Talisman Transfer
by Hereward the White
Summary: Jackie ChanWatership Down crossover. When the talismans cross dimensions Jackie, Jade & Uncle follow and encounter the rabbits of Watership Down. Discontinued.
1. Lost Talismans

**Talisman Transfer**

A Jackie Chan/Watership Down crossover? This should be good.

Note: This is set after series 3 Jackie Chan, before series 4 Jackie Chan and during series 2 Watership Down.

Author's Note: I do not own the characters in this tale, the JCA characters belong to the real Jackie Chan and the WD characters primarily belong to Richard Adams.

Lost Talismans

Deep underground, in Section 13 HQ, guarded by an intricate security network that looks like one of Indiana Jones's challenges that has been modified; there lie twelve magical talismans, each one holding a power so great that who possesses it can be capable of super-heroic or super-villain deeds (except one that's next to useless). The vault in which they lie is the most secure vault in the building, at the door to this vault four figures stand taking one last look at the revived talismans before they are shut away for ever (or so they think).

Captain Black, commander-in-chief of Section 13, thinks about how he used to doubt the power of these talismans, when he thought them to be priceless items of grand value, but without function. Jackie Chan, archaeologist and martial arts equivalent to Indiana Jones, remembers the many troubles he had to face to prevent the talismans from falling into the wrong hands (or hand as was often the case). Jackie's uncle, known by most as Uncle, antiques dealer expert chi wizard, remembers the many locator spells he had to cast to find the talismans, along with many other chi spells he had to use in the hunt for the talismans. The only one who's feeling a true loss is the one who finds a distinguished memory in each of the talismans, who's only prevention of going against the will of the authorities is the satisfaction that she proved to her classmates that all she had said about the talismans was true (she could now tell them a pink elephant); Jade Chan, Jackie's tomboy niece who produces his only challenge yet to complete, to keep her out of the way, despite the many times when her presence proved the difference between success failure; she reminisces over the adventures she had relating to each of the talismans.

Then comes the time, they all turn away from the vault and walk off, technicians closing the vault door behind them activating the security devices; however many of these devices are entirely new, developed by section thirteen's lead scientist Kepler, everyone is unaware of the effect these security devices are having on the fabric of reality within the vault. All the reality of the vault needs to collapse is a single glitch; but everyone is oblivious of this fact and just continue.

Back at their home shop 'Uncle's Rare Finds' the Chans are greeted by the minder of the shop, who is Jade's friend and Uncle's apprentice, Tohru (silent 'h', unlike Lapine); Uncle immediately speaks up when he finds one fault with the shop.

"TOHRU!" He cries out, in his bitter tone. "Why is there no tea in the shop?" Tohru looks innocently at Uncle before making a reply that was likely to calm Uncle down.

"It is ready to be poured, Sensei!" He tells Uncle, sensei means teacher in Japanese. "'Tis in the kitchen." But Uncle's not all that calm; he's a stickler for tradition.

"Tea is not served in kitchen," He tells Tohru, "Always serve in front room!" at this Tohru responds and hurries into the kitchen and returns with a tea tray in his hands, suspended by his sumo body; he puts the tray down on a counter and Uncle is quick to pour.

The Sun is shining brightly on the down; Hazel-rah looks long and hard across the countryside for signs of trouble, always unsure for the safety of the warren. Primrose comes up to him and places a paw on his shoulder; he turns to her and sighs.

"Woundwort is a rough, brutal and cruel beast; to call him a rabbit would only be physical, he is no true rabbit!" He tells her, Primrose looks into his eyes and replies.

"He will be defeated Hazel, we will prevail!" Hazel-rah is developing paranoia and is still uncertain about the war.

"How?" He rhetorically asks her. "How can we defeat such brutality?" Primrose reminds him of his way of fighting.

"Brain against brawn, Hazel!" She tells him. "Brain against brawn!"

They go down into the Honeycomb, where Dandelion is just finishing a story he was telling to the kittens; once finished the kittens spot Hawkbit next to the entrance to a run.

"Oh, no!" He groans. "Not again!" They rush towards him, at which he squeals and runs up the run and out onto the down. Hazel-rah can't help but smirk at the sight, they practically all do when their most sarcastic and cheeky rabbit gets into some mild bother. Fiver then goes blank and shuts his eyes tightly, quivering from head to toe.

"Hello," Bigwig comments, "He's off again, early viewing!" Hazel-rah rushes to Fiver's side and inquires.

"What do you see, Fiver? What do you see?" Fiver hesitates briefly before answering.

"Four and four and four stones, each holding a very old force that even Woundwort cannot match! They will come to us and must be used without coming to the Efrafans!" He then revives, his eyes springing open. Hazel-rah looks to the others and after remaining quiet for a few seconds tells them confidently.

"I think that our luck is about boost!" Hawkbit rushes through still being chased by the kittens; he overheard Hazel-rah and makes a remark.

"A boost in bad luck!" One of the kittens then grabs onto his tail with his/her teeth causing Hawkbit to cry in pain and nearly swear if it wasn't for the fact that s/he was just a kitten.

"You know what I mean," Hazel-rah groans after him, "We're going to get an advantage in the war!"

Jade is sitting in her room, glancing at the photos on the wall (which are really screenshots from previous episodes), they are the only things left as nostalgia for her. She gets up and takes down one of Daolon Wong; it shows him wandering about blind as a bat, deaf as a post, and dumb as a waiter.

"How he regained his sight, hearing and voice," She tells the world in general, "I do not know!" She puts it back and takes another one off the wall, showing the reincarnated Lo Pei with a car floating above him. She sighs at the memory of him fighting the Dark Hand enforcers and Shadowkhan. One picture catches her eye, it depicts the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl in living form, and she smiles and reminisces out loud.

"Wisdom can be found in all places of the world; but sometimes it can be quite amusing. Daolon Wong tells his warriors about surprising the enemy, then I go and surprise him?" She sniggers for a while before continuing. "Every villain I come across is nearly always dim-witted! When will I find a real challenge I can slip into?"

Meanwhile, in Section 13, the scald-level laser guard that protects the entrance to the talismans' vault in case anyone manages to break through the door is starting to falter. The energy that emits from the beams is intensifying and causing the space-time continuum to distort ever more; this glitch, however, is picked up by security surveillance. In the control room everyone prepares to shut down the system, each waiting for the order; then Captain Black comes in.

"What is the problem!" He asks one of the security officers worryingly. That officer turns to him and replies.

"The door-guard is overloading; it must be shut down!" Captain Black immediately takes command.

"De-energise the beams at a gradual rate," He commands, "Any rushing in the shut down procedure could create an energy leak and cause those talismans to scatter across the world again!" The others prepare for the gradual stage; but one young engineer sees no importance in the talismans but as priceless treasures as are the pyramids and Stonehenge, he disobeys the orders and activates the emergency shut down, which deactivates the guard instantly.

Back in the vault the lasers turn off, but this causes an energy surge, which, coupled in with the warp in the space-time continuum and the rabbit and sheep talismans, causes a temporary rip in the fabric of the reality. The resulting rip causes a gush of wind through the vault, whisking up all twelve talismans and sending them through to another dimension; after which the rip rapidly self-repairs, leaving a normal space-time continuum an empty vault.

In the control room one of the security officers reports the immediate deactivation to Captain Black, who is none too pleased to hear about it.

"I thought I told you," Captain Black tells the officer, "Not too use immediate deactivation!" The officer nods and replies.

"We were preparing to, Captain! But someone deactivated it immediately, I don't know who but I'm making inquiries!" Captain Black is still unhappy, he picks up the phone and before dialling he tells the officer.

"An inquiry is not gonna help that much! There's only one person I can think of who'll see the bright side of this, and she's not encouraged to help, it's not much of a bright side either!" He presses an auto-dial on the phone pad and puts the receiver to the side of his head ready to receive a reply.

At Uncle's Rare Finds the telephone rings, Uncle immediately goes to answer it.

"Hello," He announces into the phone, "Uncle's Rare Finds! How may Uncle be of assistance?" Over the phone he listens to Captain Black relaying the news to him. "Hmm, yes, yes. We must make sure of the talismans! Your men are very careless!" He slams the receiver down and turns to Jackie. "Jackieee!" He cries out to him, Jackie turns to Uncle. "We must get down to Section 13! There has been very bad mishap!" Jackie leaps to his feet and replies.

"Not to do with the talismans?" Uncle gives Jackie a look that if he makes any more pointless comments he'll receive a two-finger salute.

"Yes, now get ready!" They then do so; they each have a main worry, each on being different. Uncle is worried that the talismans may fall into the wrong hands; Jackie is worried about Jade slipping through the net, she's probably the only one who makes a promise and then exploits a hard to find loophole in that promise (your ideal lawyer, in fact).

Dandelion stands at the edge of the down, watching out for signs of trouble; be it a Efrafan wide patrol or Kehaar coming in for landing, he then sees a brief flash in the sky and hrair stones falling across the land, scattered. He then rushes to the others to tell them the news.

"HAZZEELLL!" He cries out rushing into the Honeycomb. "Some stones have fallen out of the sky and scattered across the land!" They all look at each other in shock before Hazel-rah speaks.

"Captain Broom," He asks the old, but tedious, veteran, "What do you say to this situation?" Bigwig murmurs in Holly's ear.

"I bet he's seen it!" Holly looks blankly at Bigwig; Hazel-rah adds something to his question.

"Well, Captain?" Captain Broom turns to the others and replies.

"I've seen this!" Bigwig groans, everyone else gasps and Hazel-rah asks another question.

"Where have you seen this before?" Bigwig makes another murmur in Holly's ear.

"'In my day'!" Holly sighs and braces himself for Broom's reply.

"In my day…" Begins Broom, Bigwig winks at Holly before Broom continues; "Some men were building something near our warren, and every now and then they would throw up some of the stones into the air and they'd scatter across the land." Hazel-rah turns to the others and makes a suggestion.

"Perhaps these stones could give us an understanding of men. What do you all think of retrieving a few of these stones to see if they have any connection to their behaviour?" Everyone makes expressions to show their agreement to the idea. At this Dandelion, Hazel-rah, Blackberry and Holly go off to find some of the stones.

Uncle and Jackie are ready to go to Section 13 to investigate the safety of the talismans; Tohru is left behind to look after the shop, and Jade; one being harder than the other. Can you guess which one?

Jackie bends down to Jade and puts his hand on her shoulder.

"You must promise me," He tells Jade, "You won't go and mess up the base!" Jade immediately spots the loophole in Jackie's request and innocently replies.

"Yes, Jackie; I promise!" Jackie takes this positively and he and Uncle set off for Section 13. Jade goes up to her room to think about the best way to slip away, whilst Tohru keeps an eye on the counter.

Later on Tohru goes upstairs to talk to Jade; however when he opens her bedroom door she's not there. He rushes around calling out her name, he even looks in the more unlikely places before realising the obvious; he rushes to the telephone and dials Jackie's mobile phone number.

His efforts, however, are futile; Jackie has his mobile phone off and is talking to Captain Black about the situation.

"Do you really think," Jackie asks Uncle after hearing Captain Black's fears, "That the talismans have re-scattered across the world?" Uncle makes a rather calm reply.

"The talismans cannot be scattered across the world! What Uncle worries about is the talismans being scattered through time!" They all walk down to the vault; the full alarm system has been deactivated except for the floor guard inside the vault the vault door itself. At the vault door Captain Black goes through all the ropes to get the door open; once the door is opened all three gasp at the sight of an empty vault, the talismans are gone!

"Any thoughts about where they went?" Comes a familiar female voice from behind them; they all turn to face, who else but Jade.


	2. A New World

A New World

Jackie is now annoyed, that Jade could break a clear promise was beyond him; then he remembers Jade's view on promises, she wanted to join in the action without welshing on a promise, every time she always finds a loophole in a promise. Captain Black isn't too disappointed; he has a more positive view on the matter and is happy to remind Jackie of Jade's value.

"I think our chances of success in regaining the talismans," Captain Black explains to Jackie, "Have just trebled!" Jackie sighs and retaliates.

"It is because of her value that I want her to keep out of trouble!" He tells Black. "That way she won't come to harm." Captain Black then mentions a few times when Jade's presence meant the difference between success and failure.

"If we can get back to the problem in hand!" Uncle tells the arguing pair, giving them both two-finger salutes. They turn to him and Jackie asks Uncle.

"Have they scattered through time?" Uncle pulls out his lizard and waves it around and commits his famous chant.

"Humo brako hai di hou! Humo brako hai di hou!" He continues to repeat this for a couple of minutes before returning to the others. "The talismans have not gone through time nor space!" He announces to them, they all ponder about this before Jade spots something in the wall of the vault that looks like someone's vandalised it with a scar-shaped burn.

"Hey," She cries out, "What's that on the wall?" They all turn to the burn on the wall and are puzzled; Captain Black is the first to make a suggestion, it's not a pretty one.

"A black hole?" He inquires; Uncle gives him a 'Don't be silly' look and replies.

"It is the remnant of a temporary trans-dimensional tunnel!" He concludes, this info has Jackie and Jade immediately realise what happed to the talismans; Jade is quick to explain the solution.

"UNCLE," She cries out, catching his attention, "In order for the talismans to be retrieved a posse must enter the dimension they've gone into!" Uncle nods in agreement and commences to give them the bad news.

"In order to find the dimension," He tells them, "Uncle must use a complicated locator spell to find the spell for the needed dimension." Captain Black puts his own oar in at this moment, but he has a list in his hand detailing the many times Jade made a decisive victory for them.

"This might sound unappealing and unorthodox," He told them, "But if Jade wasn't held back it'd keep a focus on the task in hand and improve the chances of success as her presence has done many times before." He hands Jackie the list and continues. "If we try to hold her back it would be time-wasting and futile!" Jade can't believe her ears, Captain Black encouraging her to join in; it's like surviving the dragon blast without the horse/dog talisman(s) to protect you. Jackie looks at the list, sighs and says.

"Well, three can be effective. Aren't you coming Captain Black?" The head of Section 13 shook his head, but Jackie turned to Uncle and asked him. "What about Tohru?" Uncle gives Jackie a stern look and sharply answers.

"No, Tohru must look after the shop!" Jackie looks about, he was going to ask for El Toro and Paco but they were unavailable, or rather El Toro was unavailable and the pair was virtually inseparable. That left only one alternative to Jade, and when Jackie thought about it, it would be better to let his tomboy niece tag along than to have Viper making advances to him during most of the expedition. There was no way of keeping Jade out of this one.

"Okay," Jackie moans, "But, Jade, must promise to make actual use of yourself!" Jade doesn't bother to find loopholes in this promise and just replies positively.

"Cross my heart and hope to die!" Jackie, Uncle and Jade then head back to 'Uncle's Rare Finds' to get ready for the expedition; for someone who isn't much good with logic Jade can instantly remember every chi spell she has cast, this makes her very confident in sticky situations.

As Hazel-rah, Dandelion, Blackberry and Holly make their way across the land Blackberry spots some parsley growing nearby; slipping away from the other three she pulls up a piece and goes back to the others. Not long afterwards Hazel-rah spots a stone.

"There, look!" He calls out, the others rush to see.

"Finally," Blackberry comments, holding the parsley in her forepaw, "We've found a stone at last!" Hazel-rah very carefully picks it up in his teeth; it is then that Holly spots something surprising about the stone.

"That stone has markings on it that look like the edge of a rabbit!" He cries out, Hazel-rah drops the stone in shock, they all look at it and see the markings; Hazel-rah turns to Blackberry and is about to ask her if she could think of why a stone would have such marking, when he notices her carrying a piece of parsley and asks a different question.

"Blackberry, why are you carrying a piece of parsley?" Blackberry feels slightly embarrassed, and then she remembers why.

"I would like to see if it had any healing properties!" She told him, Hazel-rah nods in acceptance and picks up the stone again.

Later on Dandelion spots another stone near the barn at the farm, making sure there's no trouble about he indicates to the others to follow him; he then indicates the stone.

"Curious," Hazel-rah comments, "This one has markings on it, too!" Blackberry looks at it and adds more info to Hazel-rah's comment.

"And," She says, "These markings seem to make a sort of snake outline!" Hazel-rah confirms this and turns to the others.

"I think," He tells them, "That two should be enough for now; let's get these two stones back to Watership Down and see what Captain Broom has to say one the matter." Dandelion picks up the new stone and they all turn to head back for the down; then Holly pipes up.

"Let's hope he keeps it brief!" Hazel-rah does his best to avoid laughing, whenever he speaks during this journey he always puts the stone he's carrying under his paw beforehand; if he laughed aloud not only would it catch the attention of elil, but he would drop and probably forget the stone.

Back at the down Hazel-rah and Dandelion put their stones down in the middle of the Honeycomb; Captain Broom looks at the stones with interest.

"Do you understand them?" Hazel-rah asks the old soldier; Captain Broom looks at him and cheerfully replies.

"Nope, sorry Hazel; but these aren't the stones that men use to build with." Hazel-rah stares at him for a while before turning to Blackberry.

"Do you have any idea what men would use these stones for?" He asks her; she looks up from the parsley, hesitates for a while and finally says.

"Well, in Cowslip's warren they used stones to make outlines that were supposed to tell a story. I think men used to make indents in stones for the same reason." Dandelion looks at her in shock.

"Used to?" He inquires; she sighs and replies.

"Well you don't see many of these, do you?" Indicating the stones; Hazel-rah and Dandelion look at the stones, then back at Blackberry shaking their heads. Just then Fiver comes in and stares at the stones.

"These stones are one of a kind!" He says mystically; Bigwig looks at him with uncertainty.

"Then how come there are two of them?" He asks the young veheer; Fiver looks at Bigwig and replies.

"There is only one," He picks up the rabbit stone in his forepaw, "Of these; and there's only one," He picks up the snake stone and puts down the rabbit stone, "Of these." Bigwig then nods his head; Hazel-rah is now looking at Blackberry with intrigue.

"Anything about the parsley?" He asks her; she turns to him again.

"I think," She replies, "There's something more to this parsley with me than meets the eye." Fiver takes her to one side and makes a suggestion to her.

"Blackberry, that parsley might have some supernatural quality; if you can harness that quality who knows what you could be capable of!" Blackberry nods and asks him.

"Could you help me to find this source of power?" Fiver nods in agreement and takes her outside to commence this action.

At Uncle's Rare Finds Uncle is mixing up a locator spell with Tohru fetching him the ingredients; a whole array of exotic items go into the cauldron as Uncle waves his lizard and blowfish around. Eventually a bookmark emerges glowing green; Uncle proudly takes the bookmark in hand and scans the bookshelves to find the book with the required spell in.

Jade pulls out a book at random, Uncle sees this and is about to tell her off, but just as he's about to open his mouth the bookmark begins to glow brilliantly, the un-gripped end pointing at the book Jade is holding. Uncle calms down and Jade puts the book on the table and begins to turn over each page, the both of them check the bookmark to see which page it favours. Eventually it is at full stimulus at the 259th page; Uncle immediately prepares to mix the spell on that page whilst Jade goes to tell Jackie and then to start packing.

"Jackie!" She cries out, entering the lounge, Jackie looks up from his archaeology magazine and replies.

"What is it, Jade?" She is all excited and speaks fairly quickly, but slow enough for Jackie to understand her.

"Uncle's found the spell!" She tells him and rushes upstairs to start packing; Jackie slowly progresses to pack up his and Uncle's things, he is particularly focused on Uncle's baggage, knowing that Uncle will require several magic items for the trip.

Eventually Uncle completes the trans-dimensional spell and throws the mixture onto the living room wall, creating a large turquoise portal. Jackie and Tohru enter with Jackie's and Uncle's baggage; Jade enthusiastically follows with her backpack on her back. Uncle turns to Tohru.

"Do not attempt any spells whilst we're away!" He tells the sumo. "Other spells can cause closure of the portal!" Tohru acknowledges this before showing his concern.

"Will you be able to get them," Indicating Jackie and Jade, "Back along with yourself, Sensei?" Uncle looks at Tohru with confidence.

"The portal," He tells Tohru, "Will be narrow whilst we're away, but it'll be easy for us to return!" They all make their goodbyes and the Uncle, Jackie and Jade enter the portal in search of the talismans.

In the Honeycomb Hazel-rah ponders over the significance of the stones, always trying to make sense of the markings; he then notices something bizarre happening on the wall of the Honeycomb, a great greenish-blue circle forming there. He rushes outside to get Fiver, who has Blackberry sitting with her hind legs crossed and holding the parsley over her lap, she is trying to find a spiritual significance in the parsley. Hazel-rah gets Fiver to one side.

"Something unusual has just happened in the Honeycomb!" He tells him, Fiver stares at him with a look of shock.

"What?" Fiver asks him. "What?" Hazel-rah found it difficult to describe so he just said.

"Come and see for yourself!" They then hear an unusual chant emitting from Blackberry.

"Hlamo brakka hrom de hi!" She chants with her eyes closed. "Hlamo brakka hrom de hi!" Fiver rushes to her and gives her a light slap round the cheek; she starts up and stands up facing Fiver. "I did it!" She cries triumphantly. "I actually did it!" Fiver nods before commencing.

"Something out of the ordinary has happened in the Honeycomb! Hazel wants us to have a look!" Blackberry nods her head and, to the surprise of all three of them, puts her parsley away in a pocket that wasn't there! They then all go down to the Honeycomb to see this circle. Blackberry and Fiver sniff at the edges for a few minutes before returning to Hazel-rah.

"It is a run into another world!" Fiver tells him, giving Hazel-rah a real shock. "I think it is safe to explore!" Hazel-rah soon recovers from the shock before replying.

"What reason is there to explore this… tunnel?" Blackberry pipes up to answer this question.

"There was no smell when we first sniffed it;" She tells him, "But then we got a whiff of garlic! Someone or something is coming down the tunnel!" Hazel-rah looks a bit concerned but takes a sniff of the tunnel himself; he finds not only the distinguished scent of garlic but something else as well.

"A man is coming down this tunnel," He tells them, "If there's any trouble we'll know how to deal with it." It is soon confirmed that Hazel-rah, Fiver and Blackberry are going to check it out. "If I don't return within two days," Hazel-rah tells Primrose, "You shall be the new chief rabbit!" Primrose nods with sadness that she might lose him; and then Hazel-rah, Fiver and Blackberry enter the tunnel, leaving the warren.

As Uncle, Jackie and Jade wander through the tunnel they all wonder where it leads to; Uncle has warned them that it leads to a world where humans are not the main species, but they are unsure of what to find. Uncle anticipates a world of ambulatory alligators and Jackie is expecting a world of intelligent horses; Jade doesn't care what kind of a world it is as long as it's not one of fish!

Hazel-rah, Fiver and Blackberry wander down the tunnel, wondering what sort of a man is coming down the other end. Hazel-rah hopes this man is vegetarian, Fiver thinks it's a female, Blackberry hopes it's one she can understand.

Then the Chans and the Watership trio meet in the middle of the tunnel; the shock is astonishing, they wonder about each other and they all unintentionally commence to sing Kula Shaker's song 'Govinda' in the following context.

**Blackberry:** Aaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

**Jade: **Whooaaaaaaaa!

**Blackberry:** Whaaaaaaat!

**Jackie:** Govinda the jaian jaia, gopalen jaian jaia; golanga munga honei! Govinda the jaian jaia.

**Hazel Jackie:** Govinda the jyan gya, gopalen jyan gya; golonga munguh hunni! Govinda the jyan gya.

**Hazel:** Goko mul lan 'Chan' a Khan nou!

**Fiver:** O rah! Govinda the gyan gy-ya, gopulen gyan gy-ya; gulan na mun ga hoon ni! Govinda the gyan gy-ya.

**Fiver Jade:** Govinda the jyan gya, gopalen jyan gya; golonga munguh hunni! Govinda the jyan gya. Nash shing ga day gaia mush ing ga bed!

**Fiver: **Nas ting ga behhh!

**Jade Blackberry:** Nash shing ga day gaia mush ing ga bed!

**Fiver: **Nas ting ga behhh!

**Jade Blackberry:** Nash shing ga day gaia mush ing ga bed!

**Fiver: **Aowwww!

_Blackberry whips out her parsley stick, Uncle whips out his lizard and they begin to dance._

**Blackberry** _(seeing the lizard)_Ahhhhh!

**Uncle **_(dancing)_Govinda the jaian jaia, gopalen jaian jaia; golanga munga honei! Govinda the jaian jaia.

**Blackberry Uncle: **Govinda the jyan gya, gopalen jyan gya; golonga munguh hunni! Govinda the jyan gya.

**Blackberry Jade **_(softly)_ Ohhhh!

**Uncle:** Go la go la go la ha lei!

**Blackberry Jade **_(softly)_ Ohhhh!

**Uncle:** Go lo par dar ra ha rei!

**Blackberry Jade **_(softly)_ Ohhhh!

**Uncle:** Go la par dai ra hei no!

**Blackberry Jade **_(softly)_ Ohhhh!

**Fiver: **Hey!

**Blackberry: **Ahhhhh!

**Jackie:** Govdinaou!

After a slight reviving after the shock from both sides once they've finished the song they get a good look at one another; both the Chans and the Watership trio see elements of themselves in each other. Hazel-rah finds his love of peace in Jackie and his leadership qualities in Uncle; Fiver finds his mysticism in Uncle and some less direct elements of his mysticism in Jade; whilst Blackberry finds her attitude in Jade and some of her intellect in Jackie. Then Jade begins to speak actual understandable words.

"I don't believe we've met!" She comments sarcastically, Hazel-rah sighs in that he can now see elements of Hawkbit in this young man.

"Man kitten," He announces, "Perhaps we can introduce ourselves properly and just accept that we can understand one another!" Jade feels insulted, being called something like that so she gives him a bit of feedback on human society.

"Listen," She tells him, "The general term for our species is 'human'; the adult male is a man, the adult female is a woman, the young male is a boy and that which I am, a young female, is a girl." Jackie sighs and adds to the comment.

"Or, in your case, tomboy!" He tells Jade, she glares at him; the Watership trio look at each other with uncertainty before Blackberry makes a comment.

"Your species of human is somewhat different to what I know!" She tells the Chans. "Your skin is so more… yellowy than what I'm used to!" Hazel-rah reminds Blackberry of the plural.

"We are, Blackberry, we are!" Blackberry embarrassingly nods at this fact, and then Jackie makes a reply to this fact.

"I-It's all to do with where in the world your ancestors come from!" He tells them; they just stare at him.

"Ancestors?" Blackberry inquires with intrigue; Jade tries to help out again.

"Those who were around long before you were born but have made a contribution to your existence!" Fiver thinks about this and understands; Hazel-rah and Blackberry think about how different rabbits have different fur colours before they understand.

"Perhaps we could just introduce ourselves." Hazel-rah suggests; Uncle pipes up now.

"It would save time!" He announces; the Watership trio stare at him due to the oddity in his voice, an accent unbeknownst to them.

"Okay," Hazel-rah replies, "My name is Hazel, I have a title as chief that makes me Hazel-rah, but I find more reassuring if I'm just called Hazel!" Jade is the next to speak.

"The name's Chan, Jade Chan!" The Watership trio think a while before realising this means she has two names; first Jade, then Chan. "Just call me Jade!" She continues, Fiver is the next to make a debut.

"I am known as Fiver!" He tells the Chans, Jade can't help but snigger at this.

"You're named after some money?" She chuckles, Fiver just stares at her.

"I don't know what money is," He tells her, "But I'm not named after it; Fiver's just a nickname, what most call me; my given name is Hrairoo!" Jade gasps at this.

"Try saying _that_ with a sore throat!" She comments, Jackie waves his arm to get her to pipe down.

"Well," He starts, "My name is Jackie Chan." Hazel-rah can't help but ask a question about this.

"Do you all have a second name, which is Chan?" They all nod their heads and Jade once again tries to explain.

"We're family, you know!" She tells him. "All human families have the same last name!" Hazel-rah has trouble understanding the regular human slang; it was obvious that he didn't know they were a family.

"Well," Blackberry tells the Chans, "My name is Blackberry!" Then Jade notices a pattern emerging.

"Are rabbits normally named after plants?" She asks them, Hazel-rah nods his head and replies.

"Unless they have a distinguishing feature, then they are given a name that has a certain meaning the original language of rabbits, this language being Lapine! For example Fiver's real name is a combination of Hrair, which means 'a lot', and –roo, which means 'small'." Jade then realises something; she turns to Fiver.

"So you were the runt of the litter." She comments, Fiver just nods.

"Ahem." Uncle says, so Jade just goes ahead with his request.

"He," Indicating Uncle, "Doesn't like to introduce himself; so allow me to introduce Uncle Chan!" Hazel-rah looks extra puzzled now.

"'Uncle'," He inquires, "That _is_ an odd name!" Jade acknowledges this and answers.

"Well we, at least 'I', don't know his real name, we just call him 'Uncle'; even he calls himself 'Uncle'!" They all nod at this; then Blackberry asks the question they should've asked.

"What are you three coming to our world for?" This is a hard one for the Chans; although they know why they're going into this dimension, but Jackie and Uncle want to create a cover story, Jade would've told the truth but she knew how Jackie would react if she began, so she did not bother. But then Fiver gave Jade a look that was not of romance, happiness, sadness or anger; this caught her full attention.

"You are seeking magical stones that you have lost!" He tells her, them actually but he can't use his look on three at once. One thing noticeable is that Jackie is only a hair's breadth taller than Hazel-rah, Jade is only one inch shorter than Fiver, and Uncle is only one inch taller than Blackberry, who is one and a fifth inches shorter than Hazel-rah, Fiver being half the size of Hazel-rah. Jade feels a strange feeling that didn't come over her before, even in the most frightening situations; the hairs on her back standing on end! Never, not when she was tackling a hideous mountain demon, not when she confronted a super-powered Shendu, not when she was fighting Daolon Wong, not even when she fought against a hideous ogre; had she felt this way. "Don't deny it!" Fiver whispers; Jackie and Uncle sigh and reply.

"Are you telepathic?" Fiver shakes his head and replies.

"No, just very insightful!" They all confirm this before Jade makes a question for the Watership trio.

"Are you all family?" Hazel-rah is quick to answer this.

"No," He tells her, "Only Fiver and I are brothers; Blackberry's a friend of ours!" Then Fiver starts up again.

"We'll help you regain these stone, but you must help us, too!" Jackie thinks this is fair; he is a strong believer in karma and thinks something for nothing spells trouble.

"What is it that we must do?" He asks him; Fiver is quick to reply.

"We are at war with a warren, or more specifically, the warren's chief; he is a murderer, a liar, a big-head and an absolute dictator!" Fiver answers; Jade thinks she knows what coming next. "We would like you to help us fight this half-rabbit; he is very difficult to deal with as he is not only ruthless, but he's also very strong." Jade now asks her own question.

"Why do you call him a half-rabbit?" Hazel-rah decides to fill-in on this one.

"Because he's too harsh, bloodthirsty, pompous and selfish to be considered a true rabbit!" This is confirmed and now Uncle makes a comment.

"With the talismans," He announces, "Your success in this war is certain!" The Watership trio look at him with surprise.

"What kind of a human," Blackberry asks him, "Is a talliz-man?" Jade shakes her head and answers the question.

"A talisman is not a type of human; it is a magical stone!" Then Hazel-rah perks up and makes a comment.

"You'll have to stay with us," He tells him, "During this time, but it won't be very comfortable for you; it's not natural!" Jade retaliates at this.

"I'm sure we'll get used to it!" She tells him; Hazel-rah shakes his head.

"Your bodies are not built for a rabbit's life!" Jade gives him an 'unless' look and replies.

"Find the Monkey talisman and we won't have that worry!" Uncle adds to this comment.

"Or," He tells the trio, "We'll have to become handi-capable!" Hazel-rah is dumbfounded by these two words.

"Monkey?" He asks. "Handi-capable? What are you talking about?" Jade is ready to reply.

"A monkey," She tells him, "Is kinda like a cross between a human and a tree-climbing animal with fur! 'Handi-capable' is Uncle's term for someone who isn't naturally adapted to a lifestyle, but is able to live that lifestyle; or someone who is absent of a sense, but can carry on with a normal life with the improvement of their other senses!" Hazel-rah then indicates for them all to follow him back to the warren.

At arriving at the warren Hazel-rah, Fiver and Blackberry find only Primrose in the Honeycomb; she is shocked to find three relatively short humans following them. They make their greetings, then Jade notices something on the floor; she goes to pick it up.

"You've already found the Snake talisman!" She tells them; Hazel-rah then spots something else.

"There was another in here," He comments with concern, "With markings on it that looked like a rabbit. Where's it gone?" Jade gasps, Jackie replies.

"If someone's taken it," He tells the rabbits, "They could be far, far away by now; with that talisman they can run faster than a speeding bullet!" Blackberry looks at him.

"What the inlé is a bullet?" She asks him, Jade fills in on this.

"A bullet," She tells her, "Is a black stone that comes out of a gun!" Then Hazel-rah immediately understands, thinking how fast a bullet can go he gasps with astonishment. But they show the Chans around the warren and hen they go out and enjoy the view. Then Primrose gets hit in the head with a stone; she picks it up, but doesn't realise it's the Rabbit talisman, she then looks to Hawkbit who is looking scornfully at her.

"Now you know how it feels!" He calls after her, her anger makes her grip the talisman and goes after him and beats him up, after which she and all the other Watership rabbits, except Hawkbit, gasp. She chased and walloped him in a manner of seconds; Jade goes up to her, holds out her hand says.

"We've found it again! Hand it over!" Primrose looks at the stone and sees the markings, she then hands it to Jade who zips into the Honeycomb, puts down next to the Snake talisman and then casually walks out again. Fiver pulls her aside.

"What does each of the talismans do?" He asks her in a haunting tone.

"Well," She replies, "The Rat talisman makes stone that look like living things come alive. The Ox talisman, the ox being a term for cow or bull, makes the bearer gain strength exceeding that of the natural maximum. The Tiger talisman, the tiger is a sort of very large cat, separates someone's good from someone's bad making two of that person." Fiver makes a comment here.

"That's about as useful as a gull with no wings!" Jade continues, smirking in understanding, even wondering why they bothered to try and get that talisman.

"The Rabbit talisman, as you've just seen, can make the bearer travel so fast that s/he could overtake someone's own voice. The Dragon talisman, the dragon is a non-existent beast that can breathe fire, can make things spontaneously combust, that is go up in a burst of fire. The Snake talisman renders the bearer invisible. The Horse talisman heals all disease and physical injury that an individual has received; it also works on shaped stones. The Sheep talisman enables the bearer to astral project, which is to make the soul leave the body without the body dying. The Monkey talisman can make any living thing turn into any other living thing; on stones it only makes the stone into the shape of a living thing, not an actual living thing. The Rooster talisman, the rooster is a male chicken, makes things float in air, or levitate. The Dog talisman prevents the bearer from dying. Finally the Pig talisman makes the bearer send beams of heat from the eyes." Fiver is amazed at this; such power that could causes chaos if it fell into the wrong paws. It looked like the Chans would be here for quite a while.


	3. Flight of Elil

Flight of Elil

The next morning Jade wakes up at the instant of sunrise, it's now clear to her that sleeping in a rabbit burrow wasn't comfortable, even if you are to scale. She sees Fiver waiting at the burrow's entrance.

"We did say it wouldn't be comfortable." He tells her. "Why were you so confident?" Jade is quick to respond.

"I was a rabbit once; it was to do with the Monkey talisman!" Fiver is a bit surprised at this but he soon asks another question.

"How long were you a rabbit?" Jade thinks a while before replying.

"About two hours!" She tells him, Fiver has no familiarity with hours, but he figures it's less than the time between sunrise and ni-frith.

"That's why you're not used to a burrow, isn't it!" He tells her, she sighs and nods her head.

"It wasn't the only bizarre thing that happened to me!" She tells him; Fiver looks at her.

"You'll have to tell me about those some other time," He tells her, "But the important thing now is that we've found three other talismans!" Jade jumps up at this, thanks to the trans-dimensional factor of height she didn't bump her head on the roof of the burrow.

"Who found them?" She asks Fiver, who replies fairly enthusiastically.

"Well, Primrose and I found the one with the rooster on it; Hazel and Bigwig found, what I presume to be, the one with the tiger on it; and Hawkbit stumbled on the one with the sheep on it!" Jade gasps at this, they found three of the scattered talismans in one night! She found it hard to understand.

"How could they find so many in one night?" She asks him in surprise.

"You don't know much about the rabbit body, do you?" Fiver tells her, she nods as Fiver continues. "A rabbit can quite easily outrun a normal sized human, so we can find such talismans in about half the time it would take you alone!" Jade acknowledges this; thinking about how long it took the Chans to get a talisman from one place or other.

Later, in the Honeycomb, Jackie and Uncle were taking a good look at the three talismans, taking care not to activate their powers. Jade and Fiver walk in at the same time Uncle has finished examining the talismans, putting the Sheep talisman down very carefully. Jade steps forward, but keeps her distance respectively; there were the five talismans, the three found over night in positions that made an equilateral triangle, and the Rabbit and Snake talismans the former on top of the latter. Hazel-rah puts his forepaw on her shoulder, she looks up to him (literally).

"What do they do?" He asks her, Jade makes a half-smirk as in 'that's easy to answer' and replies.

"The Rabbit talisman, as we've already seen, can make the holder run faster than sound; the Snake talisman renders the holder _invisible_, cannot be seen. Now the Rooster talisman enables the holder to float in air and make other things float in air; that Sheep talisman there can make the holder remove their soul from their body without dieing, that's _astral projection_; and the Tiger talisman can separate the holder's good elements from the holders bad elements and put them into two bodies of the same form." Hazel-rah thinks about this, using Hannah as an example; seeing how she would be under the influence of each talisman. When he comes to the Tiger talisman the results are both frightening and next to pointless; he makes an inquiry to the Chans.

"Shall we keep the Tiger talisman out of use?" Jade has been thinking about the point of the Tiger talisman and is ready to agree, but Jackie and Uncle have other ideas.

"Each talisman must have purpose!" Uncle announces, causing Jade to just stare at him. "We must value one much as the other!" Jackie confirms this by saying.

"If the Tiger talisman fell into the wrong hands the results could be devastating!" Then Blackberry perks up at this.

"To which side?" She asks him, Jackie thinks about this before replying.

"Both, It's dangerous to the user and those who the user is facing!" Blackberry gasps at this news; Hazel-rah, however feels that he needs to tell them a fact of last night that they weren't aware of.

"You each have to share a burrow," He tells the Chans, at which they all gasp, "As you have done last night!" At this Jade asks a question.

"Who are we sharing with?" Fiver is the one to answer this.

"Well," He begins, "You are sharing a burrow with me; Jackie, you are sharing with Dandelion; Uncle, you have to share with," He sighs, "Blackberry!" The Chans look at each-other and nod in acceptance of this fact.

Jade, Fiver, Bigwig and Hazel-rah set off in search of the Dog talisman particularly, whilst Jackie and Uncle will seek the Ox talisman; Blackberry assists Uncle in producing his locator spell. Just after they set off Pipkin enters the Honeycomb, he had been eavesdropping on their conversations and had been wanting to fly like Kehaar; now's his chance, he looks down at the Rooster talisman. He could take it and unleash the floating power within; but he's a sensitive rabbit and also wants to leave the talisman for fear of the consequences, he just stands there wondering whether to take it or not.

In a copse Hazel-rah, Jade, Fiver and Bigwig take at rest, Bigwig had to give Jade a piggy-back in order for her to keep up with them; Fiver looks from Hazel-rah to Jade and Jade to Hazel-rah whilst Bigwig lets out his annoyance by cuffing a tree. Jade and Hazel-rah are resting under a tree. Bigwig now goes on lookout in case of elil; it's now Bigwig notices Fiver looking between the two.

"What's the matter, Fiver?" He asks the young psychic with concern, Fiver turns to Bigwig.

"How Hazel was feeling about Primrose when he and Primrose journeyed to Redstone," He replies, "Is how I feel now about Jade." Bigwig interprets this as feeling sympathetic; then Fiver adds. "Someday she'll give me expectations!" Bigwig wonders what Fiver means by 'expectations' but thinks it means 'expecting Fiver to do something'.

Bigwig's so hooked up in Fiver's words he doesn't notice a homba approaching from down wind, but Hazel-rah does when it's too late.

"Bigwig," He comments, "You volunteer for sentry duty and that slips close." Indicating the homba, Fiver and Bigwig turn to see it and dash to Hazel-rah and Jade; now Jade notices the problem, realising her existence as a human doesn't help anymore.

"Ah," Snarls the homba, "Three long-ears and a miniature man, this is a treat!" It's now that Bigwig moves forward to block the other three.

"Come on now," Bigwig growls, "You want to fight? You want to fight?" Hazel-rah and Fiver quickly grab Bigwig to hold him back.

"Are you mad?" Fiver asks the owsla officer in a more logical tone; the homba now makes his own comment.

"Do any of you want a last request?" Jade makes a comment now.

"Of all beasts in the area, why do you choose us?" The homba is about to reply when movement is caught by the corner of his eye; the cornered quartet turn to the movement to see a tree being uprooted and floating in air on it's side. The homba gasps at this, just before the tree swings like a rounders bat and wallops the homba for four, causing him to squeal in shock and pain.

The tree now appears to replant itself and Pipkin slips down from the sky onto the ground; he makes an innocent expression and says.

"Hello you four!" Jade is shocked by this.

"Wow," She says, "For once I'm not the one who takes a talisman when no one's around!" Bigwig is about to scorn Pipkin for what he did when Hazel-rah spots something out of the corner of his eye.

"What's that?" He asks the others, Jade immediately moves to the object and recognises it in an instant.

"It's the DOG TALISMAN!" She cries with excitement, and picks it up. Then all five of them head back to the down; Pipkin satisfied with his time of levitation.

Back at the down Jackie and Uncle look to the five approaching; quickly Jackie rushes to Jade.

"Jade," He asks her, "Do you have the Rooster talisman?" Jade shakes her head with elements of pride and replies.

"No Jackie; I have the Dog talisman," Jackie takes it from her before she gets chaotic, "Pipkin here has the Rooster talisman." At this Pipkin gives the talisman to Hazel-rah who gives it to Jackie; then Uncle shows them that they managed to get the Ox talisman; Jade makes a sum in her head. "Right so we have seven talismans and five we still need to get." Blackberry makes a question now.

"How do you get seven and five?" She inquires; here Jackie makes a sum that leads to the numbers.

"Five is one plus four," He tells the Watership rabbits, "Seven is four plus three!" This is accepted and they go to put all three talismans in the pile in the Honeycomb.

"Did any Efrafan Wide Patrols spot you?" Dandelion asks Jackie and Uncle with concern.

"We kept alert," Uncle announces, "But no Wide Patrol was seen!" Hazel-rah nods at this; in the present situation with Efrafa such stealth to elude alertness isn't on their side; just then Fiver shuts his eyes and begins quivering from head to toe.

"What's the matter with him?" Jade inquires with confusion.

"It's Fiver," Hazel-rah replies, "He's having one of his visions!" Jade is surprised at this, he's not telepathic but he had visions, Hazel-rah goes to Fiver's side. "What do you see, Fiver?" He asks his younger brother. "What do you see?" Fiver speaks is a haunting tone that sends chills down Jade's spine again.

"The Horse talisman," He says, "It is about the Horse talisman!" Jackie now takes an interest.

"What about it?" He asks Fiver, who soon replies.

"It is," Fiver replies, "It is…"

"Yes?" Hazel-rah asks; then Fiver begins to sing the answer, coincidentally it is the same as the chorus to 'The Riddle'.

"…Near a tree by a river, there's a hole in the ground, where an old man of Aaron goes around and around; and his mind is a-peeping in the veil of the night, for a strange kind of fashion there's a wrong and a right! Don't ever let them fight over you!" The Chans and Watership rabbits look at each-other trying to figure out exactly where such a place is.

To be continued…


	4. Horse Feathers

Horse Feathers

The story so far…

The talismans at Section 13 have entered the Watership Down universe; the Chans in hot pursuit have crossed dimensions and have allied to the Watership rabbits; seven talismans have already been found and two have been used. Fiver now alerts the others to the whereabouts of the Horse talisman…

"Where do you know that has a tree by a river?" Jade asks the Watership rabbits, Hazel-rah thinks hard about this before replying.

"Well, there's a river near Efrafa with trees on the other bank, and some woods next to a smaller river in the opposite direction." Jade thinks about this before replying.

"We might have to look at both. How will we get past Efrafa without being seen?" Hazel-rah is quick to respond to this.

"There are two things on our side; we have an ally working undercover in Efrafa, and there is a secret passage leading to the edge of Efrafa." Then Blackberry makes a comment.

"All the same I think one of the talismans will be required to give us a stronger advantage." Jade asks her in curiosity.

"What power do you have in mind?" Blackberry asks her a question in response.

"Is there a talisman with a power that stops you being seen?" She asks the young tomboy who smirks at this question and replies.

"There's one right under your nose!" She tells Blackberry indicating the Snake talisman; Blackberry notices it and nods in understanding.

Now they all hear a screech outside followed by a crash, then comes an unusual voice; the Chans can't comprehend it, a sort of bothersome attitude with a harsh German accent.

"Iz verwy 'ard grond dis day iz not it!" The voice says, and then Bigwig, Hazel-rah and Pipkin get cheery.

"He's back!" Bigwig comments, Jade can't take it anymore and asks.

"Who?" Hazel-rah turns to her and replies.

"Kehaar, a seagull ally of ours!" Jackie and Uncle gasp at this while Jade just goes.

"Whoa!" But another voice is heard from inside the Honeycomb, but the Chans cannot see the individual who's saying it.

"'Azel, there is a glint in the woods opposite Efrafa!" Hazel-rah nods to this voice, which Jade spots as a field mouse about knee-high to her.

"That is the news we needed, Hannah!" Hazel-rah tells her, she is surprised by this remark and asks Hazel-rah a question.

"Do yer know what it is?" Hazel-rah nods again and replies.

"We need to get it!" At this Hannah replies.

"Shall Kehaar an' I get it for yer?" Hazel-rah shakes his head now and tells her.

"Bigwig and I will get it ourselves; you two must distract any Efrafans close to the water!" Hannah nods at this and goes to leave, and then she spots the Chans who are trying to be inconspicuous and asks Hazel-rah quietly.

"Those men are a bit short aren't they?" Hazel-rah sighs and tells her.

"Those _humans_ are not of this world; we've made a bargain so they'll help us!" Hannah is unsure of this, but knowing Hazel-rah's brilliant mind and superb methods of rulership she decided to accept it and went out to Kehaar.

"What next?" Jade groans at the knowledge these rabbits have an ally that is a gull and another that is a mouse. Hazel-rah looks at her bewildered; wondering what she meant.

"I'm not a seer like Fiver!" He tells her, Jade is quick to tell him what she meant.

"Shish," She moans, "I wasn't asking for a prediction of the future; it was a rhetorical question!" Hazel-rah thinks for a while before looking round for an explanation.

"I think," Blackberry comments, "She means that the question was more of a comment of how many unexpected things have occurred in her eyes." Hazel-rah nods to Blackberry in acknowledgement before turning to Bigwig.

"This is a tricky one," He tells the owsla officer, "There's only one talisman to make someone or something unseen and two of us. I think we'll take in turns when trying to get the talisman; you go invisible while I try to hide, then I'll go invisible while you try to hide!" Bigwig acknowledges this plan, now Jade asks a question.

"Surely you'll be doing that a lot if these Wide Patrols are to avoid spotting you!" Hazel-rah shakes his head and gives Jade some info she wasn't aware of before.

"There is a secret tunnel going from within this warren to a place close to Efrafa; the Efrafan side is hidden behind some vines." This isn't too surprising to Jade as she's encountered several secret entrances and passageways in her time.

Hazel-rah now makes his farewells and picks up the Snake talisman whilst Bigwig gives Hawkbit a threat about being sarcastic and gives the Watership owsla a bit of drilling that afternoon and the next morning before departure. About ten minutes after they go down the run to the passageway Fiver decides to talk to Jade about her bizarre experiences, he doesn't see her in the burrow so he looks in the Honeycomb, there he saw Blackberry and Uncle doing something that had only the continual repetition of the word 'Om'; he looks outside where many rabbits are at silflay and he just spots Kehaar and Hannah flying to Efrafa, but no Jade. Then it comes to him, there's only one other place she'd go since beyond the down is too dangerous for her to even risk it after the fox encounter, unless she took one of the talismans. He checks the talisman pile, all that were collected other than the Snake talisman are there; that only leaves one location, he hurries to the secret passage.

Bigwig and Hazel-rah stealthily slip through the underground passageways towards Efrafa; Hazel-rah keeps a hold of the Snake talisman in one of his forepaws, just then they hear a scampering sound. Hazel-rah turns to Bigwig, who is looking this way and that, but nothing can be seen; more carefully than before they continue through the passageways. Just then they hear a louder scampering behind them; the only conclusion is they're being followed; fearing it's an Efrafan agent Hazel-rah gives Bigwig the talisman and says.

"Use the power, seek out the stalker, if it's an Efrafan agent you know what to do." Bigwig nods to this. "If it is otherwise then bring them back here; I'll wait." Bigwig then keeps a tight hold on the talisman and Hazel-rah looks on as Bigwig fades into nothingness, Hazel-rah keeps his ears up and alert and detects Bigwig's movement as a patting sound. Not far away after that Bigwig becomes visible again; Hazel-rah sees him to be surprised and annoyed, he goes to see what Bigwig is looking at.

"Er, hi Hazel!" Jade says at the realisation of discovery, Hazel-rah looks at Bigwig with a 'good grief' attitude before asking.

"Do you always do this?" Jade thinks for a bit before replying.

"Most of the time, yeah!" Hazel-rah and Bigwig just can't understand her desire for danger; if Hawkbit could see her now he would consider them two to be careful tacticians.

"You realise the danger you'd be in if the Efrafans captured you, don't you?" Hazel-rah informs her; Jade produces a smug look on her face and replies.

"When it comes to escaping tight security, I bought the T-shirt!" Hazel-rah and Bigwig look at each other; stunned by the human slang.

"You're what what a what what?" Bigwig gasps; Jade tries to get it through to them.

"I know where I am with strict security!" At this Hazel-rah can't help but reply.

"Yes, in this case _Efrafa_!" Jade groans at they're language development lacking in colloquialisms.

"No," She tells the pair, "I mean I know how to get out of, and into, secure places!" Hazel-rah is relieved that she's cleared it up, but Bigwig just can't hold his words back.

"Well why didn't you say so?" He tells her, Jade sighs at this and just gives up.

"You're not one to live where I usually live?" Hazel-rah and Bigwig this time try to interpret it in a Fiverish manner and conclude that her society has many speech problems from their point of view. Just as they think of Fiver the young veheer comes rushing through the passages and knocking Hazel-rah over from being unable to break soon enough.

"Well this is useful," Jade comments, attempting to be witty, "Now we can make up a foursome!" Fiver looks to her, thinks a while before saying.

"You mean it's useful if four work together?" Fiver inquires just to be sure.

"That's about it, yeah." Jade replies, they are unsure of this but decide to go along with it.

"It's going to be hard to avoid being spotted this close to Efrafa," Hazel-rah informs them, "Now there are four of us and one unseen talisman." Jade soon sighs and tells Hazel-rah.

"The proper word for it is _invisibility_!" Fiver nods at this before they all commence with the journey; just as they approach the curtain of vines Jade asks the trio of rabbits.

"Could the Efrafans have found it already?" Hazel-rah shakes his head in response.

"They didn't see the event of the arrival of the talismans," He tells the now extra-short kung-fu girl, "And they have no idea of how powerful they are!" Fiver then commences with an omen of his.

"When man is prisoner of rabbit, one will assist a break for it!" Jade turns to him and replies more like herself than the previous times he spoke like this.

"You're beginning to sound like Uncle!" Now Hazel-rah gives her some wisdom.

"Never underestimate the powers of such messages!" He tells her, Jade now adds to her previous comment, directing at Hazel-rah.

"And so are you!" Just then Hannah slips through the vines and speaks to Hazel-rah.

"Kehaar an dii are reddy!" She tells him. "You want us to commit?" Hazel-rah looks around before replying.

"Wait, we'll set up a plan, and then you can go and distract the Efrafans!" Hannah nods and waits for them to work out a plan.

"Right," Hazel-rah tells the other three, "I'll slip past Efrafa invisible; Bigwig, you'll run from cover to cover, if you come across any Efrafans you know what to do; Fiver, Jade, you two will try to slip past Efrafa unnoticed." They all understand this, Jade is happy that she'll have an element of risk with the plan with Fiver and herself trying to keep out of site. "Okay," Hazel-rah tells Hannah, "You and Kehaar can distract now!" So Hannah goes out and Kehaar takes off; Bigwig is the first to go out rushing behind a tree, Hazel-rah now exits whose only visibility is movement in the vines and ripples in the water, coming up next to the tree Bigwig is behind. Fiver and Jade now follow keeping their heads down and crouching below the bank of the river, rising behind the tree and standing next to Bigwig. They continue in this manner until they come to the river, where they all hurry across the bridge.

"Ow!" Hazel-rah cries as Jade bumps into him, the Snake talisman is knocked from him and lands on the other side of the bridge; a quick thinking, and always ready to help, Jade hurries over and grabs the Snakes talisman and hurries across the bridge with Hazel-rah just behind her; they all rush into the woods on the other side.

"Where's that bird going?" Shouts a voice from across the river; this gets Hazel-rah a bit nervous.

"That's Vervain," He tells Jade, "He must not find us or he'll go telling Woundwort of our whereabouts!" Jade looks at the Snake talisman in her hand and at Bigwig; a plan begins to hatch out in her head.

"Hey," She tells the rabbits, "I've got an idea! Is Vervain a coward?" Hazel-rah, Fiver and Bigwig all nod positively at this, a smile spreads across Jade's face. "Right, Hazel-rah, Fiver, you two and I will hide behind the trees; Bigwig, take the Snake talisman, activate it's power and go to the bridge! If Vervain approaches give him a walloping whilst invisible, but don't speak; this should give him the willies and off he toddles like all the Shadowkhan are after him." She then tosses the talisman to Bigwig who catches it in his forepaw and goes to the bridge. Hazel-rah heads for the nearest tree to hide behind whilst Jade goes behind an oak tree nearby, Fiver follows her as there's plenty of room for both of them behind the tree.

"What are the willies," Fiver asks Jade, "and what is toddling?" Jade whispers in response.

"Getting the willies means getting very scared. Toddling is a fast movement towards somewhere." Fiver decides that any further conversation whilst the plan is under way.

"But what is the Shadowkhan?" He asks her in a whisper.

"Shadowkhan," She whispers back in a more serious tone, "Is a force of dark spirits that are dangerous fighters, they appear wherever there are shadows, and they are also servants of demons." Fiver thinks of this as a nastier version of the Black Rabbit's owsla. Kehaar lands some way back and keeps mum, Hannah must've told him to keep his beak shut after landing. Fiver peaks out from behind the tree and sees Vervain on the other side of the bank smiling, but unsure of exactly where they are. Fiver whips back behind the tree and nods to Jade, who understands that Vervain is going as they anticipated.

Vervain looks to the bridge, he can see no sentry and thinks he's caught the Watership rabbits off their guard. He moves to the bridge ready to slip into the trees and ambush the 'Outsiders'. Just as he approaches the centre of the bridge all of a sudden he gets cuffed; quickly he looks around for another rabbit, unaware that there's a rabbit right in front of him. Bigwig keeps a tight hold of the Snake talisman to ensure his invisibility and cuffs Vervain again, followed by a kick from the hind legs; a confused Vervain goes defensive and looks around, Bigwig now spots that his back is open, and stealthily moves round Vervain, giving him the cuff of his life from the rear, followed by a kick in the !£#. Vervain leaps to a conclusion and rushes off in panic; rushing all the way back to Efrafa. Bigwig, proud of his success deactivates the power of the Snake and heads back to the others who emerge from behind the trees with Kehaar approaching the group.

"Kwite amazing, yah;" Kehaar screeches, "Bigwig 'e goes out off site and den returnz to zite!" Hannah too, is quite surprised.

"How did you fight Vervain without being seen?" She asks him, bewildered as to the whole event.

"You see this?" Bigwig asks the pair, showing the Snake talisman, they both nod their heads. "This is called a talisman, it possesses a magical power; there are four and four and four such talismans including this one, each with it's own magical power, in this case it is being able to be unseen by all, to go _invisible_!" Hannah is amazed by this news; that a simple stone could hold such incredible power, she can't help but ask.

"Is it unusually heavy?" Bigwig shakes his head, now Jade sticks her oar in.

"Magic isn't concerned for size and weight!" Kehaar is now shocked to see such a short human who spoke to them as equals, but he was afraid to ask about the whole ordeal.

"You two can now return to the down!" Hazel-rah tells the gull and mouse; Hannah nods whilst Kehaar steps back for take off, Hannah goes onto Kehaar's back and Kehaar shoots off into the sky.

Vervain comes crashing into Efrafa so fast he knocks down two of his own sentries; Woundwort notices the rapidly approaching Vervain, and just as Vervain goes past him, he trips him up.

"Get off the ground yer coward!" He tells Vervain, who timidly gets up and acknowledges Woundwort before crying out.

"There's a GHOST on the river bridge!" He cries out, Woundwort just gives him a look of annoyance before Vervain carries on. "It pulled me to and fro, I just couldn't locate it; it was just too powerful!" Now Woundwort asks Vervain a rhetorical question.

"Vervain, have you been chewing white sticks again?" Vervain looks up at Woundwort before replying.

"No sir; well, yes, but that's got nothing to do with it, sir!" Woundwort now cuffs Vervain at Bigwig strength as a threat and tells him.

"You're supposed to deal with rebels! Not to go ghost hunting!" Vervain tries to regain some ground.

"But I was trying to locate Hazel and his outsiders!" He tells Woundwort, who looks at him and replies.

"You're useless at that job; Campion!" Now a sly and sleek looking buck comes out of the shadows in a calm and 'knows what he's doing' manner.

"Yes, sir!" Campion asks Woundwort straightforwardly.

"You see that," Woundwort tells Vervain, indicating Campion, "That is the type of rabbit I like in the owsla. One who is never afraid to even face the unexplained; one who can twist the ear off one of his own sentries; one who can be sly and strong at the same time!" Vervain now makes to his old fears.

"Campion is a traitor!" He announces to Woundwort. "He wants Hazel to win the war! And you put your trust in him!" Campion remains calm throughout this lecture before asking Woundwort calmly.

"Has he been chewing white sticks, sir?" Woundwort smiles to his favourite captain and replies.

"Yes, this loony just can't hold his ground!" He then turns to Vervain and yells out.

"Get out of my sight; and don't leave this warren without authorisation!" Vervain hurries out in panic; Woundwort now turns to Campion.

"Sometimes I think of demoting him!" He tells the captain, Campion accepts this comment with a rabbit equivalent of a smile and asks him.

"Is there anything for me to do?" Woundwort nods and replies.

"I'm going to try capturing one of their number and your sentries are going to make him/her talk! Your first job is to go out and capture one!" Campion thinks for a while before replying.

"Forgive my expectation of failure, but what if I do fail?" Woundwort already has an idea.

"I'll send you out again with an assistant!" Campion acknowledges this and sets off.

Hazel-rah begins to ponder over the rest of Fiver's message; a hole in the ground, that couldn't mean Efrafa as that's too far away. Bigwig is keeping his guard with the Snake talisman ready in case he needs to fight the on-comer whilst invisible. Fiver was giving a close look on the sight to find the hole in question; whilst Jade was in thought to work out the exact location of the talisman from previous experience.

"I've found a hole!" Fiver calls out from near the river; Hazel-rah and Bigwig hurry towards him whilst Jade just sits there perfectly sure the talisman won't be in the river bank. The hole in question is that of a water rat, who's come out to see what all the hubbub is about.

"What d'you rabbits want?" The rat asks them bitterly, Hazel-rah is quick to respond.

"Have you seen a stone around your hole?" The rat looks at him and replies.

"No, none so £#!" This is clear enough to all of them; as they go back to the trees Bigwig makes a comment.

"Wrong hole, Fiver!" Hazel-rah is about to give Bigwig a lecture on comradeship when Jade suddenly jumps up with a bright look on her face.

"I know here it is!" She cries and heads upstream parallel to the river, with the trio of rabbits in hot pursuit; at a wall in the river, which Jade recognises as a weir, she stops with the rabbits stopping behind her, she now looks for the talisman.

"The old man of Aaron?" Hazel-rah asks her, at which Jade indicates a tanned senior fishing nearby.

"What's he doing?" Bigwig asks the world in general.

"Don't worry," Jade replies, "He's fishing, he won't notice us he's too busy focusing on his line. I presume that's what Fiver meant by 'peeping in the veil of the night'." Fiver nods to this and wonders where the hole is; now Jade carefully slips past the fisherman towards a tree, then Hazel-rah notices a rather small hole at it's base and motions for Fiver and Bigwig to follow. Jade puts her arm down the hole, feels around for a bit, stops and pulls it out, clutching the Horse talisman. Hazel-rah praises her for such accuracy and comes up to get a good look at the talisman.

"Is it dangerous?" He asks her, Jade shakes her head.

"Far from it," She replies, "It heals injury and disease!" Hazel-rah realises the potential within this talisman, all Blackberry could do now to heal another would be to just put the talisman against the patient's body and activate it's power. Just then they all hear a scampering sound, Bigwig goes invisible and Jade thrusts the Horse talisman into her pocket. Then Hazel-rah spots an approaching rabbit and braces himself unsure of whom it is.

"It's alright," Campion tells Hazel-rah, "It's only me!" Hazel-rah breathes a sigh of relief and Bigwig, recognising Campion, becomes visible again, but Campion soon spots this. "Oh, it's you is it!" He asks the fur-capped fighter.

"Vervain been bragging has he?" Bigwig replies and Campion nods with the added note of.

"Not very accurately, he said there was a ghost guarding the bridge!" Jade, overhearing the conversation puts her hand over her mouth to avoid giggling.

"Woundwort didn't suspect anything, did he?" Hazel-rah asks the allied Efrafan spy, who replies with nostalgic amusement.

"No, he was convinced that Vervain had been chewing on white sticks!" At this Jade can't help but hold back her curiosity.

"White sticks?" She inquires, causing Campion to spot her and jump back with surprise.

"Bhrrr-bhrrr, whui-whui woo-woo?" He just can't get his words right from the shock.

"Calm down Campion," Hazel-rah tells him, "She's with us!" Campion now just gasps; the concept of humans working with rabbits was virtually beyond him. "Okay," Hazel-rah informs Campion, "She, with two other humans (general term for her species), came into this world from another via a bizarre looking tunnel; they are seeking out these talismans and have promised to aid us in the war against Woundwort!" He indicated the Snake talisman in Bigwig's forepaw.

"What are these talismans for?" Campion asks them bewildered.

"Well," Fiver answers, "Each of these talismans has markings on them that look like some kind of animal, one animal for each talisman; they possess powerful magic that can turn the world upside down!" Campion is clearly amazed by this info and commences to inquire.

"How many talismans?" Hazel-rah is quick to answer this.

"Four talismans in three groups!" Which Campion is quick to understand as 'three-fours' but not as twelve.

"And the animals are?" He asks again.

"There's only some you'll recognise," Bigwig tells him, "We already have the cow, the rabbit," Campion is amazed to hear of a Rabbit talisman, "The snake here, the horse there," Indicating Jade who takes the Horse talisman from her pocket, "The sheep, the rooster, and the dog; but we do not have the pig!" Campion thinks about this before replying.

"Have you any more talismans?" Hazel-rah is quick to answer this.

"Just one!" Campion nods at this before Hazel-rah asks him. "What are you doing here any way?" Campion is quick to respond.

"Woundwort wants me to take one of your number for imprisonment and questioning!" Hazel-rah sighs and Bigwig frowns.

"And if you fail?" Hazel-rah asks.

"Then I'll be sent out again with an accomplice!" Hazel-rah looks about wondering how to deal with it.

"If Fiver, Bigwig or I go in we'll be killed! Jade, how do you think you'll deal with the Efrafans?" Jade smiles at this and replies.

"As long as I keep possession of the Horse talisman and keep it out of sight of the other Efrafans; I should be out of there within two days at the worst!" Campion acknowledges this, but is concerned.

"How will you cope with the brutality?" He asks her, Jade tosses the Horse talisman Hazel-rah's way; he catches it and clutches it. The horse outline on the talisman lights up and a halo envelops Hazel-rah; once it's gone Hazel-rah skips and jumps to and fro, showing Campion that his limp has gone. "The Horse talisman can heal?" He asks in surprise, Hazel-rah and Jade nod their heads; Hazel-rah tosses the talisman back to Jade and asks.

"Will you need the Snake talisman?" Jade proudly shakes her head, but now Fiver takes matters in hand (or paw).

"We'll need to pre-plan everything!" He announces, after which he suggests. "Jade will appear to have been captured with an appearance that says 'slightly beaten up' and will have to tolerate the torture methods; when Campion finds her somewhat uncomfortable he'll call off the sentries and question her in private. He will really be giving her the run down on Efrafan security; the Horse talisman will heal her, then Campion will do what he'll do here to make the interrogation as convincing as the arrest. Tomorrow Jade'll have healed herself and with a bit of help from Campion escape; I will meet her by the bridge with the Rabbit talisman, and we'll rush away to safety." Campion thinks about this before replying.

"That is a superb tactic, Fiver!" Jade doesn't like the roughhousing, but knows how to deal with it afterwards, it's just mandatory for convincing the Efrafans.

"Just don't make the true intentions too obvious," Hazel-rah tells them, "That Vervain can be quite a sly character and will do anything to reveal where Campion's true loyalties lie!" So they prepare it all, Jade puts the Horse talisman in her pocket, splatters some mud on her face and just as she's about to get some cuffing she then notices something she has to do with the Horse talisman first and moves to do it.

"…Yes," The fisherman says over his phone whilst standing next to a car, "It's broken down, I'm not sure why!" He listens into his mobile before saying. "Yes, it's a Fiasco!" Jade covers her mouth to avoid laughing; the man listens a bit longer and becomes annoyed. "No," He tells them, "I am not interested in purchasing an Aston Villa! There's no such car!" He listens again and groans, putting his phone away because those on the other end won't believe in his car's make. Jade whips out the Horse talisman and puts it against the car; it's as good as new in a manner of seconds. The man stands bewildered over the mended condition of his fiasco, whilst Jade slips back to the rabbits.

"All wars need names," She tells them before they commence with the cuffs, "How's about naming this war 'The War of the Warrens'!" They all think this name is appropriate and begin to give her a few cuffs; not exactly comfortable for her, but she's sure this is a picnic compared to what she'll have to endure in Efrafa. Now Campion and Jade say farewell to the Watership trio and set off.

"Let's get back to Watership Down," Hazel-rah tells Fiver and Bigwig, "Before they wonder where we got to!"


	5. The Straight Escape

The Straight Escape

As a lightly scuffed-up Jade follows Campion towards Efrafa, she can't help but get some info from him now, whilst other Efrafans are at a distance.

"What did you mean by 'white sticks'?" She asks him, he turns to her in a serious manner.

"I thought you knew;" He replies, "Those white sticks some humans burn in their mouths!" Jade immediately realises what they are.

"You mean cigarettes?" She rhetorically asks, Campion thinks for a while before replying.

"If that's what you call them, yes!" Then they continue somewhat further; crossing the bridge and on to Efrafa. As they come within sight of some rabbits Jade braces herself for some serious thrashing, both physically and verbally.

"Remember," Campion whispers to her, "Only give your name, age and favourite colour!" Jade acknowledges this as being relatively useless information for the Efrafans. They enter a fairly large burrow, but not Honeycomb level, Jade then sees who must be Woundwort; she finds him to be a cross between Hak Foo and a Shadowkhan.

"Any luck, Campion?" Woundwort inquires; Campion already has a set of lies for the reply.

"A curious captive, sir," He replies, "A very short man kitten who we can understand; I just caught her chasing that bird of Hazel's." Woundwort now spotted Jade, believing her to be the one.

"Was she any trouble?" He asks Campion who replies.

"Not too much, she moved rather bizarrely in defence; it took quick wits and moves for me to get her to submit!" Woundwort now moved to Jade.

"I require some information from you!" He tells her, Jade commences to give him some in an uncomfortable tone.

"Right," She gasps (fake), "My name is Jade Chan, I'm eleven years old and my favourite colour is dusky red!" Woundwort looks at her and gives Campion another order.

"Take her away, your sentries will give her a bit of softening; I know you know when the time is right for asking, so you'll tell them when to stop! You'll ask her the questions then!" Campion acknowledges this and, seemingly, hauls Jade away to a prison burrow.

Back at the down Hazel-rah and Fiver are relaying the idea to the others; every single one of them is listening to them.

"You must be careful, Fiver," Jackie tells him, "The talismans are only to be used when it is wise and necessary to do so!" Fiver nods to this, but Hawkbit was thinking of another idea.

"Surely that Snake talisman will enable us to penetrate Efrafa unnoticed!" He suggests, this is replied to by Uncle as he salutes the sarcastic buck. "Oowwww!" Hawkbit cries out at the impact of the goat.

"Never use magic unless really important!" Uncle tells him, with a scornful look. It is now accepted that the original plan would be best; although Jackie is frightfully concerned for Jade, and hopes she'll listen to him in future.

It the prison burrow Jade is holding up very well to the brutality of the sentries; just as she's about to crack at the ferocity Campion announces to his sentries.

"Enough, she's ready to talk!" The sentries then through Jade to the floor. "I'll deal with her alone; guard the entrance!" They respond to the command and go out of the burrow, Campion lifts Jade carefully off the floor; she reaches into her pocket and clutches the Horse talisman, is a matter of seconds she looks as good as new, Campion gasps, but covers up by calling out. "How dare you insult me?" Followed by a wink at Jade, who nods in understanding. "Okay," He whispers to her, "Security around here is highly disciplined and will follow orders, however if the order is extreme they'll fall asleep on guard. If they believe they've been given an order via a messenger they will immediately do it, even if it's not the case. Now I'm on Hazel's side they've lost most of their cunning advantages!" Jade soon knows exactly how to break out now and says.

"I shall require some turmeric, rape seed, daisy petals and a basil leaf!" Campion nods and they commence with the mock interrogation.

"Not talking, eh?" Campion speaks slyly and gives Jade a light cuff, which she makes a mountain out of to convince the guards; this is followed by a kick that doesn't encounter Jade, but she makes the exaggeration and really does insult Campion in a loud voice.

"You £ £#¬!" And Campion makes sounds with his paws against the floor and walls of the burrow whilst Jade pretends to cry out in pain at each impact, until Campion says.

"Very well, we'll see how you like to live on nothing but herbs and spices!" Campion winks at Jade and seemingly storms out of the burrow. "That's a very stubborn man-kitten," He tells the sentries, "Keep guard on this burrow and don't let anyone equal or inferior to you in and don't let her out!" They take this order instantly and stand guard, whilst Campion goes to Woundwort and file his report.

"Well?" Woundwort asks him.

"She's very stubborn," Campion replies, "She was so terribly beaten and she didn't crack, I even gave her some hard cuffing and still nothing came out!" Woundwort is surprised at this before asking.

"What do you think will make this fiend talk?" Campion is quick to reply.

"A diet of herbs and spices _only_; they will be so uncomfortable on her tongue she's bound to give in sooner or later!" Woundwort praises Campion for his cunning idea; totally unaware of Campion's true intentions. "Tomorrow," Campion tells Woundwort, "I shall deliver her new food personally; perhaps a few cuffs might make it just as unpleasant, sir!" Woundwort accepts this before replying.

"You take care of the man kitten; I'll deal with the warren!" Campion is happy for this and leaves to do what he usually does on a regular Efrafan day.

During the night, Campion carefully gathers the required plants for Jade; he has a bit of trouble getting a basil leaf, until one breaks from a basil tree and falls right in front of his nose; happy he takes the stuff back to his burrow to give to Jade by morning. Meanwhile, Fiver slips into the Honeycomb, determined to avoid losing time he takes the Rabbit talisman from the pile and returns to his burrow with it.

By morning Campion is given a wake-up call by Woundwort himself.

"I see you've got her food, then." He tells Campion seeing the pile.

"I thought it'd be most efficient if I got it during the night!" He replies, Woundwort acknowledges this as the sort of thing he'd do, but Campion knows Woundwort wouldn't really do it; he's just a pompous show-off. Campion gathers up the substances and goes to the prison burrow.

Outside the burrow Campion notices that the guards are half-awake, probably from having a quick kip during the night; they soon stand to attention as they see him approach.

"I've got her food!" He tells them, so they let him pass; Jade is even more alert then they are, Campion found her to be wide awake brushing the dust off her. "Here's the stuff you required!" He whispers to her.

"Nice work, Camp!" She whispers back, Campion hesitates for a while to understand that 'Camp' is an abbreviation of Campion; he puts the stuff down on the floor.

"One thing," Campion asks her in a whisper, "What's it all for?" Jade is quick to reply.

"It's so I can mix up a sleeping spell! The effect lasts for about three hours, longer if the one whom it's being cast upon is feeling sleepy!" Campion is now puzzled.

"How can you ensure that enough sentries will fall asleep?" He asks her.

"It's gonna be in a powder," Jade replies, "Whenever I spot a sentry, I'll just blow some of the powder their way and they'll be in the land of nod for at least three hours!" Campion is really puzzled now.

"Land of nod?" He asks her, she is quick to answer.

"In a deep sleep" Campion nods and makes a mock beat up.

"You little!" He growls and bangs his forepaw a few times against the ground; each time Jade cries out in pain that wasn't being inflicted upon her. He then leaves with a deceptively fake look of annoyance on his face. "Keep alert," He tells the sentries, "If she steps out of the burrow thrust her back in!" They nod, hoping that the pain inflicted upon the man kitten will stop herself from escaping whilst they take a bit of a rest. Campion knows they're tired and thinks they won't wake up after the spell is cast until sunset; he goes about some other business.

On the down the other Watership rabbits and Jackie and Uncle awake to find Fiver's already left; unaware that Fiver intends to hide in the woods next to the river until he sees Jade approaching and goes to the bridge. He is mainly taking his time, but after about twenty minutes Fiver decides to go at a speed to the minimum the Rabbit talisman will allow (intending to go at the speed of sound exactly); and shoots of to his destination.

Back in the prison burrow Jade is now commencing with the mixing of the sleep spell with all of Campion's ingredients mixed together in the right way and she finally completes the mixture with one ingredient Campion could not provide, a grain of sleep from her eye. Carefully taking up the sleeping powder she slips it into an empty pepper pot she is carrying. She walks to the entrance where the sentries are in a dull state of mind.

"Pardon me!" She says as she steps out of the burrow; one of the sentries blocks her path.

"Get back in there," He tells her, "Or we shall have to throw…" He practically yawns, "…You back!" Jade immediately realises the sentries are going to be sleeping for many hours; she pulls out her pepper pot, sprinkles a bit of sleeping powder into the palm of her hand and says to the sentry.

"Sweet dreams, soldier!" She blows the powder into his face; the other sentry looks on as his friend suddenly slips into a deep sleep. Jade turns to him and gives him another helping, just as the powder swirls around he says sleepily.

"Oh, no!" And then he drops off; Jade now swiftly and stealthily slips through the runs and holes of the warren. She encounters a couple of sentries standing outside a hole leading to the surface; fortunately she sees their silhouettes from inside and blows some powder for them just before she leaves. Outside another sentry is about to shout 'Alarm!' when the sleeping powder swirls around his head and all he can say is.

"Or-Lurm." As he drifts off into a deep sleep; Campion signals to her, she goes to him to commence with the escape.

"You must hurry," He tells an enthusiastic Jade, "They might have noticed your absence, and that sleeping stuff won't last forever, will it!" Jade nods in response, now Campion gives her a suggestion. "You seem a lightweight human; you could ride on my back to the bridge! What do you say?" Jade thinks about this; of all things she's encountered, a rabbit that'll let her ride on his back.

"So," Comes a voice from behind Campion, "You are in league with this man kitten!" Jade spots a dark furred rabbit behind Campion.

"Someone you know?" She asks him, Campion turns round to see Vervain.

"Yes," He replies, "Give it to him!" Vervain mocks this remark.

"What's a puny man like that gonna do?" He asks Campion as Jade sprinkles some powder into her palm. "Knock me out?" Campion is quick to respond.

"Something like that, Vervain!" Jade now blows the powder into Vervain's face and he drops off to sleep. "Now I can show him up easily; Woundwort won't believe a word he says about my true nature, when he finds him asleep on duty!" He turns to Jade. "Nice work, err, what's your name again?" Jade is quick to respond.

"Jade Chan!"

"Shall we get going, Jude Can?" Campion asks her, Jade corrects him and answers.

"Jade Chan! And yes we'll set off!" She then puts the pepper pot back in her pocket and lets Campion give her a piggy-back to the bridge. She's never felt the wind in her hair rush this way before; she's felt a regular human-running rush and a supersonic boom; but never a 34mph rush.

Through the trees Fiver keeps his visual; then he decides to head for the bridge anyway at regular speed. Just as he reaches the middle of the bridge he spots Campion approaching and can just make out Jade on his back; he runs to the other side of the bridge to meet them at a normal rabbit running speed; upon the encounter Jade gets off Campion's back and check her pockets, the Horse talisman and pepper pot are still there.

"How was her weight?" Fiver asks Campion, Jade sighs at this concern but is still surprised by Campion's reply.

"Lighter even than I expected!" Fiver nods to this and motions for Campion to go back to Efrafa and make the bluff of the month; Campion moves in that direction.

"Are you ready to go faster than thunder?" Fiver asks Jade, who eagerly replies.

"Well I've done it before, so yes!" Fiver keeps a tight hold of Jade's hand with his forepaw, clutching the talisman in his other forepaw he amazingly takes off on his hind legs ONLY!

Campion hurries into Efrafa with a look of shock on his face; he is creating a set up that'll make Woundwort think he was not in league with the prisoner all along.

"Sir," He cries out, "Sir, the prisoner has escaped! She's made it off with one of the Outsiders!" Woundwort turns to him in puzzlement.

"How come you didn't catch them?" He asks Campion, who replies.

"I was just about to ambush them when they ran away so fast that even I could not catch them! You won't believe this sir but they were so fast I doubt if even a fire stick could stop them!" Woundwort tries to comprehend this; if the Watership rabbits weren't capable of running so fast before, that must mean something must've assisted that burst of speed.

"Such speed can't be from the man kitten," He announces aloud, "Or we wouldn't have been able to capture her." Campion thought 'Who's we?' at that comment, but nothing on his face said such a thing. "How could she get out without the sentries spotting her?" Campion makes as though he's surprised at the event.

"I told them to guard her so she wouldn't be able to get out!" Campion announced, and then Woundwort caught an idea in his head.

"Let's see if they're still at the burrow." He tells Campion, and then they both go to the prison burrow. Woundwort is soon to spot the sleeping sentries; he is very annoyed. "Wake up you lazy, useless !" He growls at them; they don't even twitch, Woundwort is shouting at them to wake up so loud that the whole warren can hear, except for those who are in a similar state.

"You heard the general," Campion shouts into one of their ears, "On your hind paws NOW!" Still nothing, Campion stands up. "How can any rabbit sleep like that?" He asks the world in general; Woundwort thinks for a while before replying.

"Perhaps if you did catch her and the rabbit, Campion; you might be in a similar state." Campion looks at him in easily deceptive shock, before replying.

"That could explain Vervain!" He suggests, Woundwort looks at him.

"Vervain's asleep?" Woundwort inquires, Campion nods his head. "I don't think it could; he was supposed to be monitoring his mark at silflay, not sneaking about like a hlessi!" He looks at Campion more firmly than before and indicates to him to go about his business; Campion does so whilst Woundwort hauls the sentries away.

Fiver keeps a tight hold on Jade as he speeds through the countryside; he is particularly concerned by the rough tumbling she'd get if he lets go. Jade isn't too fussed about the ordeal, but without the Rabbit talisman in her possession she finds herself going horizontal rather than vertical. Eventually Fiver comes to a stop and Jade's back on her feet; she looks around.

"This isn't Watership Down," She tells Fiver, "Even I can tell that and geography isn't my strong point!" Fiver looks at her before replying.

"I don't know what 'geography' is, but I have to agree we're not at Watership Down!" Jade cannot believe Fiver could lose his way between Efrafa and Watership Down; he should know the surface way as well as the secret way since it is obvious to her that they had to discover the passageway after they encountered Efrafa.

"Well," She asks him, "Have you any idea where we are?" Fiver sighs and replies whilst looking around.

"I must admit I don't know where we a…" He stops and realises his location, "Yes I do know where we are!" Jade is surprised at this, but commences to ask him.

"Well, is it good or bad?" Fiver thinks about this before replying.

"It is good, but there is an ally of ours who lives here, whom I think you'd be shocked to know what she is!" Jade thinks about this before replying.

"I've seen terrifying beasts ripping the world apart; I've seen a world where such beasts rule, and I've even seen a fierce beast not as extreme as the others but it would've been very dangerous if everything else was normal! I doubt if it's going to be too shocking!" Fiver acknowledges this but warns.

"Well just brace yourself; it can be terribly shocking even for someone with such experience!" Jade prepares herself just in case and Fiver tells her. "This ally is a lendri!" Jade just gets puzzled.

"What in the world is a lendri?" She asks him, Fiver is quite shocked that she's never heard of a lendri.

"You've never seen a lendri?" He rhetorically asks her; Jade decides to take a more philosophical tone to this.

"The word lendri might be your name for something I'm quite familiar with." She suggests, Fiver decides to introduce her to this ally.

"If you saw her," He tells Jade, "You might recognise her species!" He gives her the Rabbit talisman for safe-keeping and goes towards a dense area of trees. Jade now realises she's in an apple orchard.


	6. Rat, Rat, Badger

Rat, Rat, Badger

Caution: This is a long one!

Jade attempts to follow Fiver but just sees him going down a hole; not long afterwards she hears a yokel-like female voice emitting from the hole.

"Fiver!" Cries the voice followed by Fiver crying in pain, just as Jade is about to rush in she hears Fiver's voice taking to the female voice in a serious tone.

"Enough with the hugging, Bark!" Jade wonders what kind of animal would be named Bark, particularly a female of the species. "Something very out of the ordinary has happened," Fiver tells Bark and commences with a summary of the story so far. "And I thought it would help her to understand if she met you face to face!" Next Jade hears Bark replying enthusiastically.

"Whoever is a friend to Fiver is a friend of mine!" It's clear to both Fiver and Jade that this is a positive answer, now Fiver comes up out of the hole.

"Prepare yourself for a shock!" He tells Jade, who braces herself again just in case. Now Bark emerges from her sett and reveals to Jade that she is a badger!

"Well," Jade comments, "This is certainly unusual." Fiver is relieved that she's not got too much of a surprise. "To accept our friendship, Bark; I would be happy if you would shake me by the hand!" Jade sticks her hand out to Bark, who holds on to it with her right forepaw and whams Jade up and down like a small sack of potatoes.

"NOOOOO!" Fiver cries out, separating Jade's hand from Bark's paw. "That's not what she meant!" He tells the badger, Bark is somewhat puzzled by this.

"But she asked me to shake her!" Bark replies timidly, Jade just sits there dazed, trying to get her quivering hand in her pocket.

"She's a human from another dimension," Fiver tells Bark, "And her kind doesn't talk quite the same as us!" Jade now manages to get a hold on a talisman in her pocket, she clutches it tightly and, nothing happens; she looks at the talisman and realises it's the Rabbit talisman, not the Horse talisman. So she tries again and astonishes Bark as she goes from bruised and dazed to alert and well.

"There's something in me sett," Bark tells the pair, "That you might be able to understand." So Fiver and Jade follow her down into the sett; Bark indicates something embedded in the wall. Jade soon identifies it.

"The Monkey Talisman!" She announces excitedly, Fiver looks slightly puzzled whilst Bark is totally stumped.

"How did it get in the wall?" Fiver asks her, Jade turns to him.

"When the talismans scatter," She tells him, "Their magic sometimes makes them go into awkward places." Bark is really confused.

"You two know of magic stones?" She inquires; Jade nods her head whilst Fiver explains it all to her. "What does this one do?" She asks as Jade pulls it from the wall.

"It can turn any living thing into any other living thing!" Jade tells her, Bark is quite surprised by this information. "We must get back," She tells Fiver, "We're not supposed to be here!" Now Fiver speaks straight to her face.

"Jade," He tells her, and the next thing is he begins to sing a quote from 'The Beatles' song 'All You Need is Love', "There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be; it's easy!" Jade is becoming astounded by Fiver's sudden singing talent; the next thing is even more surprising. Fiver holds on to her body and begins to get romantic. "Oh Jade," He tells her, "Ever since I first looked into your eyes I knew you were the one for me!" Jade pulls herself away before realising something.

"I've only ever had one other love proposal before," She reminisces, "And now that I think about it; anything is better than a demon! No wonder I ditched him instantly! But then how can a rabbit be the lover of a human; especially when she'll be returning to her original dimension!" Fiver then realises what she's saying.

"That doesn't matter," He tells her, "We can be together forever, even if we're apart!" Bark just looks on in surprise as buck and girl negotiate a love life between them.

"There isn't much of an option for us; one being a rabbit, the other being a human!" Fiver announces realising the troubles Jade was talking about; who groans with a slap on the head.

"Rats!" But then she remembers that she's still holding the Monkey talisman and makes her loudest groan yet as she, Fiver and Bark transform into rat equivalents of themselves. Jade retains her fringe, Fiver has a mystical appearance about him in rat form and Bark is clearly stronger than the average rat; they all retain their eye colours.

"Why did you do that?" Fiver asks Jade, who sighs and replies.

"What I meant was 'This is trouble'!" Then Fiver understands that it was a habit of saying something with a different meaning; now Jade holds the talisman up in front of Fiver and says. "Change him back!" And Fiver reverts to his normal form, now looking down on both Jade AND Bark. Now Jade turns to Bark, holds up the talisman and says. 'Change her back!" At which, Bark returns to her born species, confused by the whole ordeal. Finally Jade turns the talisman on herself and says. "Change me back!" And she transforms into her more familiar form. Just then Fiver realises a new potential; if either he or Jade transformed into the other's species they could develop a relationship better. Whilst Jade tries to work out how far they are from Watership Down he picks up the Monkey talisman that is lying by her side and points it at her.

"Rabbit!" He whispers and looks on as Jade goes into rabbit form; Jade looks at him disappointingly when she realises what happened.

"Magic can't solve all problems!" She tells him, Fiver is slightly disappointed by her new form; she just isn't convincing enough, anyone would think she is some kind of Japanese mythology beast with her fringe on an innocent-looking white rabbit, so Fiver turns her back by saying.

"Change her back!" And Jade is relieved to be her usual self again.

"Do you think we should be making tracks?" She asks him, to which Fiver replies.

"I don't think it would be wise to show where we've been; but we can start returning to Watership Down, which is what I believe you actually meant in your unorthodox way!" Just about now Fiver notices that there is more sunlight coming through the trees then before. "Wait," He tells Jade, "We must stay here a while!" Jade groans at this news and follows up with the question.

"Why?" Fiver is quick to answer.

"Because it is ni-frith; the time of day with the most sunlight!" Jade is quick to understand.

"You follow the philosophy that only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun!" Fiver is now puzzled.

"Englishmen?" He asks her, Jade explains the situation.

"Men from England!" Fiver is still confused.

"England?" He asks again, Jade is getting tired of all this.

"An island that is rather big, that living on it you'd think it wasn't an island!" Just then Jade gets an idea in her head, perhaps they were in England all along!

"Okay," Fiver replies, "Just let me rest for the heat of ni-frith!" Jade can't understand this new approach.

"Listen up, Five," She tells him, Fiver pricks his ears up as best he can, aware she meant him by 'Five', "If you think this is hot you should be in Shanghai at noon!" Fiver just can be bothered now, it's too hot.

"Explain Shanghai to me," He tells her, "When a wake up!" And he dozes off, Bark has already fallen asleep; Jade wonders what she can do whilst she waits, then she remembers the three talismans, two in her pocket and one by Fiver's snoozing body.

Back on the down Hazel-rah is very puzzled, given the speed the Rabbit talisman can give and Fiver's enthusiasm they should've been back not too long ago. He decides to make an inquiry with the others. He goes into the Honeycomb.

"Fiver and Jade should be back by now," He tells everyone there, "But they're not!" Hawkbit goes into a panic.

"Don't panic!" He cries out. "Don't panic! The Efrafans have got them!" This is responded to by something very uncomfortable; Bigwig cuffs Hawkbit whilst Uncle salutes him simultaneously.

"Never be so pessimistic!" Uncle yells at him, Bigwig wonders which Hawkbit found more uncomfortable, his cuffing or Uncle's saluting.

"I think Fiver lost his accuracy with the speed and long distance he had to run!" Blackberry announces, they all look at her astounded. Then it comes to all of them, since Fiver never used the Rabbit talisman before there could be some complications.

"How will we know where they are?" Dandelion asks everyone, Hazel-rah comes up with an idea.

"Kehaar could go out and look for them!" He announces, but then hesitates. "Although it could take a bit of time." Now Blackberry comes up with an idea; she turns to Jackie and Uncle.

"Is there anyway we can trace the talisman?" She asks them, Uncle pipes up at this.

"Uncle can make spell to locate talisman!" He announces, and everyone agrees to this idea; Blackberry goes to help Uncle as she seems to be the only one who can substitute Tohru.

Back in Bark's sett Jade is wondering what to do with the talismans; then she remembers Fiver's outcry when he was hugged by Bark, if Fiver has an injury the Horse talisman can deal with it. She holds up the talisman, puts it against Fiver's cheek and the power activates, Jade spots a bruise on Fiver's flank through the fur and watches as it disappears.

The ni-frith snoozes are over and Blackberry and Uncle have completed the spell; the other Watership rabbits watch on as the finishing touches are made.

"Locator spell is complete!" Uncle announces and an apple floats out of the cauldron, glowing green. "Any of you know where apples are?" He asks the Watership rabbits, Hazel-rah soon realises exactly where they are.

"I hope Jade doesn't get trauma!" He announces, Uncle and Jackie look at him puzzled. "They're in Bark's Orchard!" All the Watership rabbits understand what he means, Uncle and Jackie still can't understand the worry.

"Who is this Bark?" Jackie asks them, Blackberry fills in on this one.

"A lendri ally of ours!" Jackie asks another question now.

"What's a lendri?" Blackberry now sets up a definition.

"A lendri," She tells him, "Has black and white striped fur, waddles instead of any straight motion and usually has a lust for blood!" Then Jackie gasps while Uncle goes.

"Ay-ahhhhh!" All the Watership rabbits know now that they understand what a lendri is.

"Don't worry," Hazel-rah tells them, "Bark has a soft spot for Fiver, she will not harm anyone who is a friend of Fiver or is a friend of friend of Fiver, and it goes on like that!" Hazel-rah once again hesitates. "Although she tends to hug Fiver rather tightly."

In Bark's sett Fiver and Bark awaken to see Jade waiting for them.

"Okay," Fiver asks her, "What is Shanghai?" Jade replies enthusiastically.

"Shanghai is a large place where many humans live together, anywhere like that is a city," Fiver now understands what Kehaar meant back when they had to get Primrose and Blackavar from Efrafa, "But Shanghai is the name of a fairly large city, famous for it's style of food, or cuisine!" Fiver is amazed by this info, but feels he must tell her something.

"Jade," He announces, "I had a dream just then, I think it was an insight into your past!" Jade understands this and asks.

"What was it?" Fiver responds by singing a part of Status Quo's 'Pictures of Matchstick Men'.

"Well I look up to the sky, I see your eyes a funny kind of yellow; I hop to bed, I snuff my head and I see your face underneath my pillow; I wake next morning tossed aside, I see your face peeping through my window!" Jade thinks about this.

"Well," She replies, "The window scene is likely to be a caricature of what happened to me when we had to get a horse powered with the Horse talisman." Fiver can't quite understand what she means. "The pillow situation, well I'm afraid you might've made a mistake there as I can't remember anything in particular to do with pillows. Yellow eyes have got nothing to do with it, but I was under the influence of the Rooster talisman a couple of times." Just then Fiver realised something, something rather important.

"I think we should go back to Watership Down," He tells Jade, who doesn't show any concern, "They'll be wondering where we've got to. I think we'll go at a steady pace this time in case we meet any of them on the way!" Jade acknowledges this, hoping to find yet another talisman on the way.

"It was nice of you to call!" Bark tells them sentimentally, just then Fiver spots something.

"Where is the Monkey talisman?" He asks the both of them, Jade reaches into her pocket and pulls it out. "You never miss a trick, do you?" He remarks, Jade returns the talisman to her pocket and waves goodbye to Bark and both she and Fiver exit and trek across the orchard.

In Efrafa all the rabbits who've been exposed to Jade's sleeping spell are gathered together in the burrow that Jade used to be held in, Woundwort can't understand it.

"I think Vervain's having us on," He tells Campion, "He wakes up when we shout at him and then just goes back to sleep!" Campion looks at Woundwort with a fake look of amazement and awe.

"I know Vervain's a selfish slackly rabbit," He comments, "But you have discovered his sheer laziness! You never seize to amaze me, sir!" Woundwort buys Campion's comment without any doubt.

"You know," Jade tells Fiver as they exit the orchard, "Campion reminds me of a friend of mine!" Fiver looks at her as she says this.

"How?" He asks her, Jade is quick to reply.

"Well they both worked for someone who we've been fighting, but then changed to aid us instead; they're both brave and very strong and they both have a sensitive side!" Fiver is amazed by this news.

"What was the human's name?" He asks her.

"Tohru!" She replies, Fiver tries to spell it out and pronounce it.

"T-O-R-R-O-O, Tor-roo!" Jade shakes her head and replies.

"No, T-O-H-R-U, Tohru!" Fiver is shocked, he tries to help out.

"Shouldn't it be pronounced 'Tor-_Hru_'?" Jade shakes her head.

"In the language it originated from the h is silent!" Fiver stands still as Jade walks on, unaware of Fiver's hesitation. "Are there any colloquialisms in your language?" She asks rhetorically, no response, puzzled she turns round. "Fiver?" She says in query, and sees him standing there staring into space. Jade shrugs her shoulders and goes back to him. "Earth to Fiver!" She says to him and snaps her fingers in front of his face, Fiver notices her and says.

"I think a group are coming to find us!" Jade looks at him with puzzlement.

"Efrafa or Watership Down?" She asks him, Fiver soon replies.

"Watership!" Jade nods her head and they both continue on their journey. Just then Fiver spots something he's never seen before.

"What's that?" He asks Jade in surprise, Jade turns to look at what Fiver's looking at.

"That's a guitar." She tells him, Fiver is puzzled again.

"What's it for?" He asks, Jade tries to elaborate.

"A guitar," She tells him, "Makes nice sounds called 'music' if it is used in the right way or it'll make the sounds, but in the wrong order causing the music to not be nice, to go 'out of tune'!" Fiver is curious to this and asks her.

"Could you demonstrate?" Jade hesitates for a bit before replying.

"I can try, but I've never used one before." She goes and picks up the guitar in both hands, she makes sure the strings are all fastened in and begins to strum; producing a 'Dave Lister' version of the intro to Beethoven's 5th. "I think it's broken!" Jade tells Fiver, he is not so sure.

"Let me see it." He asks her, she gives it to her, and with the guitar in his forepaws Fiver feels a new sense, one of excitement and love, a desire to use this guitar to it's best and he takes off with 'You're Not the One I was Looking For' by Blue Oyster Cult. "I used to lie in my bed,  
the sleep wouldn't come; I'm thinking about the things that they said, they led me on; all of the fancy ladies, oh they could talk and talk.  
I shot for the highest star, but I aimed too high; you wanted a rich rock star, but he made you cry; now that we have each other, oh we can laugh about it. You're not the one I was looking for, but you're the one for me (you're the one); I'm not the one you were looking for, but you can't go wrong with me; you're not the one I was looking for but, you're oh so good for me! Now I can't make it without, I can't go on; we can make beautiful music and prove them wrong; we've been put down by the best and now we laugh about it, yeah! You're not the one I was looking for, but you're the one for me (you're the one); I'm not the one you were looking for, but you can't go wrong with me; you're not the one I was looking for but, you're oh so good for me! You're oh so good for me (You're so good); you're oh so good for me (You're so good); you're oh so good for me!" Jade gasps, Fiver doesn't have hands, or even primate limbs, nor does he have any familiarity with music; yet he strummed the guitar like a pro and sang in the manner of the original singer, and his voice was in pitch. He has little to none experience with singing alone, yet he seems to know how to play a guitar, change the pitch in his voice and how to breathe when singing. It's though he learnt how to do all this in a millisecond.

"How did you do that, Fiver?" She asks in surprise, Fiver looks at her in bewilderment.

"How did I do what?" He asks her, Jade soon replies.

"How did you all that singing and playing the guitar so well?" Fiver soon replies.

"It just came to me!" Jade has heard of naturals for something or rather, but this is ridiculous; just then Fiver spots something encrusted in the back of the guitar.

"There's another talisman here!" He announces Jade hurries to see which one, she recognises it.

"The Dragon Talisman!" She informs Fiver, who remembers what she said it did and quickly drops the guitar and jumps back. Jade very carefully prizes the talisman out of the guitar and gingerly slips it into her pocket; Fiver breathes a sigh of relief.

Back in Efrafa two of the sentries are coming round as Jade's sleeping spell wears off; Woundwort watches on, and as they open their eyes he pulls them onto their feet.

"How dare you sleep on duty!" He yells at them, one gibbers while the other simply says.

"Sorry sir, we couldn't help it!" Woundwort finds this to be no excuse and gives them four torso wounds each as punishment. Campion looks on and as the two sentries hurry away with fear Campion makes a request to Woundwort.

"Sir," He asks, "Could you keep your watch over those left over for a while? Only I'd like to see the look on Vervain's face when he finds you caught him sleeping on duty!" Woundwort looks to Campion and replies.

"I shall wait for Vervain and give him what's coming to him when he wakes up; I think you should be there to see it! The other two you'll watch carefully if they're still sleeping when Vervain wakes up!" Campion reacts confidently and in a respectful and disciplined fashion. They don't have long to wait, Vervain slowly stretches and opens his eyes to meet those of an angry sumo rabbit, Vervain realises what this means and the expression on his face tells of extreme surprise and alarm.

"Er, hi General!" Vervain says nervously, Woundwort hauls Vervain up and gives him verbal thrashing that doesn't need to be mentioned here, followed by a nasty physical thrashing. Vervain hurries away and Woundwort turns to Campion.

"If he puts a paw wrong one more time," Woundwort tells him, "I'm demoting him to Captain Aspen's level and promote the others up the ladder!" Campion knows this means Moss will replace Vervain, Groundsel will take place of Moss, and Aspen will take Groundsel's place.

Fiver and Jade continue on their route to Watership Down, what Blackberry did with the parsley Fiver has done with the guitar; as they wander along Fiver suddenly starts sniffing about.

"I think we need the Rabbit talisman now!" He tells Jade, who looks at him with uncertainty and replies.

"What makes you so sure?" Fiver answers with a sound of tension in his voice.

"A homba!" He cries, just then a vixen jumps at them and both Jade and Fiver run in their own direction; the vixen pursues Fiver for a while when Fiver finds himself cornered, the vixen closes in. Just then a cough is heard behind the vixen, Fiver looks over her shoulder as she turns to see who/what made the cough, and there stands Jade Chan with a stern look on her face.

"Who's the shrimp?" The vixen crudely comments, Jade goes into a frown and asks the vixen.

"Are you talkin' to me?" Fiver realises the problem and whispers to the vixen.

"Oh no, you're calling her a shrimp!" The vixen can't understand what Fiver's talking about.

"Are you talking to me?" Jade asks again, more aggressively this time; Fiver realises how much trouble the vixen is in.

"Oh dear, oh dear!" Fiver comments, Jade is really wound up now.

"Are You TALKING To Me?" She growls at the vixen, Fiver informs the vixen of the danger.

"Now you're in trouble!" Jade now flares.

"They call me," She tells the vixen, "Miss Shrimp!" And she jump-kicks the vixen so violently that she sails over Fiver's head and smack into the ground on the other side of the obstacle. Jade apologises to Fiver. "I'm still having trouble with that!" She tells him, Fiver shrugs and they both head back to the down.

About ten minutes pass before a scout group encounters them; this group comprises of Bigwig, Broom and Blackavar. Bigwig is the first to speak.

"You two took your time!" He says. "What held you back?" Fiver answered this.

"Ni-frith caused some delay," Bigwig understands this, rabbits are seldom active at noon, "And we found two more talismans!" Jade shows Bigwig and the other two the Monkey and Dragon talismans; Bigwig nods with pride.

"You two clearly have initiative!" He tells them, he continues with. "First rule of the owsla 'You must use initiative'!" Fiver and Blackavar sigh at the last comment, Blackavar covering Broom's lips to prevent him from going on about his past; Jade cannot understand what all this is about, being in this world for only a few days meant that she couldn't understand Fiver's and Blackavar's sighing nor could she understand why Broom's mouth had to be covered from time to time.

By mid-afternoon the five of them reach the down to find Jackie and Hazel-rah waiting for them; Jade feels this has been a job well done and readily announces.

"We've found two more talismans!" Jackie is amazed by this and looks at her with puzzlement, Hazel-rah just asks her.

"Which talismans, Jade?" She is quick to respond, pulling out the two extra talismans from her pocket.

"Check it out, Hazé," She comments, "The Monkey and the Dragon!" Hazel-rah wonders what they do before he realises she called him 'Hazé', Fiver gives him a look that Hazel-rah catches and understands.

"That leaves us with…?" Hazel-rah inquires, Jackie answers this one.

"The Pig and the Rat talismans!" Hazel-rah realises this means it won't be long before they have all the talismans.

By sunset the two sentries who were guarding Jade wake up to find Campion looking down on them sternly; they get nervous.

"I've just been talking to the General!" Campion tells them in the stern fashion that matched his expression; one of them nervously replies.

"We can explain!" Campion pulls on the fur of his chest and tells him with authority.

"Excuses are not the business of Efrafa, doing the job is!" He then gives them a couple of cuffs each and sends them on their business.

As night falls on Watership Down the rabbits and Chans get ready to get some sleep.

"That Woundwort is such a fascist," Jade comments, "No wonder you lot wanted the talismans to help you!" She continues informing all the Watership rabbits in the Honeycomb before they all set off for their burrows, Fiver asks Jade a question as they head for their burrow.

"Can you teach us how to know different values of hrair?" He asks her, Jade hesitates for a while as she figures out hrair means anything over four.

"Sure, Five!" She confidently replies, Fiver sighs at her habit of using abbreviations when addressing someone informally.

By the next morning Fiver is the first to wake up, he finds Jade snoozing by his side. Nuzzling her Fiver commences to try and get her more cheerful about waking up with a song, coincidentally it is a slightly altered version of The Monkees' 'Daydream Believer'.

"Oh, I could hide beneath the wings, of the bluebird as she sings! The six o'clock alarm would never end, but it rings and I rise, wipe the sleep out of my eyes; the shaving razor's cold and it stings. Cheer up, sleepy Jade; oh, what can it be made of, it's a daydream believer and an incoming trade. You once thought of me as a white knight on a steed, now you know how happy I can be! And all good times starts and end without one carrot to spend; but how much paperwork do we really need. Cheer up, sleepy Jade; oh, what can it be made of, it's a daydream believer and an incoming trade! Cheer up, sleepy Jade; oh, what can it be made of, it's a daydream believer and an incoming trade." Jade comes round and is shocked to hear words in Fiver's singing that rabbits cannot comprehend. "Cheer up, sleepy Jade; oh, what can it be made of, it's a daydream believer and an incoming trade!" Fiver cannot help but repeat this until he runs out of breath.

Later Jade is trying to teach Hawkbit to count above four, using the talismans to help him understand, without much luck.

"Okay Hawkbit," She comments, "Let's start again, eh." She slips three talismans in her direction. "This is called adding! I have three talismans," She slips another two talismans in her direction, "And then I add two more talismans. What do I have?" She asks him, Hawkbit is quick to respond (badly).

"Some talismans!" He tells her, Jade is subconsciously annoyed.

"Yes," She tells him, "And no! Let's try again!" She repeats the actions. "I have three talismans, and then I add two more talismans! What does that make?" Hawkbit blunders again.

"A very chaotic life!" He answers; Jade is getting tired of Hawkbit taking what she says literally.

"Hawkbit," She tells him, "The apes of the Savannah have mastered this! Look," She points to each talisman mentioning numbers consecutively, "One, two, three, four, _five_! So how many are there?" Hawkbit tries to answer, but fails again.

"Four," He tells her, Jade begins to inquire with this answer when Hawkbit says, "And that one!" Pointing to the Tiger talisman, Jade picks it up.

"Four and that one!" She rhetorically comments. "So if I add that one to the four," She puts it back impatiently, "What will I have?" Hawkbit seems to get.

"Oh!" He says. "Some talismans!" Jade is ready to give up now.

"Yes," She groans, "To you Hawkbit, 'education for all' is just something that is granted to other species, isn't it!"

Later on all are in the Honeycomb, Hazel-rah is taking central stage and announces.

"I believe that this war will end soon! The threat of Efrafa is not our concern!" But just then Fiver starts shivering.

"Fiver's gone again!" Jade comments, Hazel-rah rushes to Fiver's side.

"What do can you see, Fiver?" He inquires, all of a sudden Fiver's eyes spring open, staring into space and he begins to sing Genesis' 'Land of Confusion' in this format.

**Fiver:** I must've dreamed a thousand dreams, been haunted by a million screams; but I can hear the marching feet, they're moving into the street! Well did you read the news today; they say the danger's gone away, but I can see that fire's still alight, and burning into the night! There's too many men, too many people making too many problems, and not much love to go round! Can't you see this is the Land of Confusion? This is the world we live in…

**Dandelion (**Paw on cheek) Ohh errr!

**Fiver: **…And these are the hands we're giving…

**Dandelion **(Paws on chest)Err werrrr!

**Fiver: **…You never will stop trying…

**Dandelion **(Paw on forehead) Ahhhh!

**Fiver: **…To make it a place worth living in! Oh Superman where are you now?

**Hazel** (whispering) Shout!

**Fiver: **Where everything's gone wrong somehow!

**Hazel** (whispering) Shout!

**Fiver: **The man of steel, the man of power…

**Hazel **(whispering)Shout!

**Fiver: **…Are losing control by the hour! This is the time, this is the place for we look to the future; but there's not much love to go around! Tell me why this is the Land of Confusion! Well this is the world we live in…

**Dandelion **(Paw on cheek)Ohh errr!

**Fiver: **…And these are the hands we're giving…

**Dandelion **(Paws on chest)Err werrrr!

**Fiver: **…You never will stop trying…

**Dandelion **(Paw on forehead) Ahhhh!

**Fiver:** …To make it a place worth living in!

Jade tries to work out exactly what they mean; what Fiver says next penetrates her soul.

**Fiver:** I remember a year ago, ooh when the sun was shining and the stars were bright all through the night and the sound of your laughter _as I held you tight_; so long ago! I won't be coming home tonight,

**Hazel** (whispering)Shout, shout!

**Fiver: **My generation will put it right!

**Hazel** (whispering)Shout, shout!

**Fiver:** We're not just making promises…

**Hazel** (whispering)Shout, shout!

**Fiver:** …But we know we'll never keep! Too many men, there's too many people making too many problems, but there's not much love to go around! Can't you see this is the Land of Confusion? Now this is the world we live in…

**Dandelion **(Paw on cheek) Ohh errr!

**Fiver:** …And these are the hands we're giving…

**Dandelion** (Paws on chest)Err werrrr!

**Fiver:** …You never will stop trying…

**Dandelion **(Paw on forehead) Ahhhh!

**Fiver:** …To make this a place worth fighting for! This is the world we live in…

**Dandelion **(Paw on cheek) Ohh errr!

**Fiver: **…And these are the names we're given…

**Dandelion** (Paws on chest)Err werrrr!

**Fiver:** …Stand up and let's start showing…

**Dandelion **(Paw on forehead) Ahhhh!

**Fiver:** …Just where our lives are going to!

Jade, Jackie and Uncle continually try to comprehend this message as the Watership rabbits now go about their daily business.

In Efrafa a red cloud begins to form in the middle of the audience burrow; Woundwort, Campion, Vervain and many others gathered at this strange phenomena.

"Have any idea what this is, sir?" Campion asks Woundwort, who thinks a bit before replying.

"Other than that it's a red cloud of supernatural existence, no!" Now a human silhouette can be seen in the cloud, Woundwort cheers up. "Perhaps this man will help us in dealing with the outsiders and that insubordinate man-kitten!" He announces, the cloud clears and there stands none other than Hak Foo.

"Have you rabbits had any trouble with a Chan?" He asks the Efrafans, Campion gets nervous but doesn't show it.

"We've encountered a Jade Chan!" Woundwort tells him, Hak Foo understands this and announces.

"I offer you my services in your struggle!" Woundwort thinks that having a man ally who knows this Jade Chan would be very helpful, Vervain just gloats.

"What use is a pathetic man like you?" He asks the Black Tiger rhetorically; this gets on Hak Foo's nerves and responds with a move.

"Angry Crow Takes Flight!" He announces and jump-kicks Vervain in the stomach, followed by. "Disturbed Cobra Bites Wrist!" And he whacks Vervain on the fore-ankle; Woundwort tells Hak Foo.

"You are welcome to Efrafa, that's the name of this warren!" Hak Foo introduces himself.

Later Campion slinks away from Efrafa, continually watching his back.

"I can't stay in Efrafa," He tells himself, "That Hak Foo would expose me and smash me before you could say 'Woundwort has only got one!'" And he sneaks into the underground caverns leading to Watership Down.


	7. Deja Foo

Deja Foo

Note: I'm not very good in writing Irish accent; Blackavar might sound more like the novel version.

Campion slips through the underground caverns, doing his best to trace the route to Watership Down; the arrival of Hak Foo made it clear to him that he can no longer continue his espionage missions for Hazel, now he shall fight alongside Hazel in direct competition against Woundwort. It is not long before he spots the way up to the warren on Watership Down and begins to climb.

On the down Jackie is teaching Bigwig and Blackavar Kung-fu, Fiver is teaching Jade the game of bobstones and Uncle is teaching Blackberry chi magic; Jade so far has lost three games to love, she does her best to keep herself calm in the heat of bother. Fiver and Jade commence with the fourth game, Fiver goes first.

"Bobstone guess?" He asks Jade, who looks at his forepaws that hide the stones.

"Bobstone guess," Jade replies, she is getting the gist of it, "Is… two, small!" Fiver lifts up his forepaws to show two small stones, Jade has succeeded in guessing, all she needs to do now is to have Fiver guess wrong. "Bobstone guess?" She asks him later on, she covers the stones by clutching them in both her hands.

"Bobstone guess," Fiver replies, "Is… four!" Jade opens her hands to show only two stones.

"Hello again!" Speaks an exhausted voice behind Jade, she turns and is surprised to see Campion at the run that leads to the underground caverns.

"What're you doing here?" She asks him, Campion soon responds.

"I have some important information for all of you!" He tells both Jade and Fiver, Fiver quickly goes out to get the others whilst Jade goes elsewhere in the warren to get Uncle and Blackberry.

When Jade arrives in Blackberry's burrow, where she and Uncle are performing practice chi spells, she finds Blackberry and Uncle arguing over the chant to use.

"Hlamo bracka hrom de hi!" Chants Blackberry, waving her parsley around, Uncle cries out.

"Ai-yaaa! That is not the chant! Is 'Humo brako fai di tzao!'" Jade coughs to stop the argument, they turn to her.

"Some news of this Efrafa!" She tells them, Blackberry immediately jumps before Jade continues. "There is to be a meeting!"

"In the Honeycomb, I suppose!" Blackberry comments, Jade thinks for a while before nodding her head in understanding; Uncle immediately puts all chi research away.

Later, in the Honeycomb, everyone is gathered to hear Campion's news, he begins.

"I can no longer be a spy for you all," Campion announces, "For there is a new ally to Woundwort, I don't think I could stay undercover with him around, he's also a dangerous fighter!" Jackie thinks for a while before asking.

"What's his name?" Campion soon replies.

"He says his name's Hak Foo," Jackie jumps back in shock, "It appears you might know him!" Campion tells the unnerved archaeologist, Jade speaks now.

"Hak Foo is here in your world?" She rhetorically asks him. "Really? I thought I dealt with him back at the shop! He's such a slippery one, that man!" Campion now asks a question.

"What can we do about him?" Everyone puts their thinking caps on, but Jade has it almost instantly.

"I have just the spell for him!" She announces, Jackie sighs in an annoyed way; all the Watership rabbits look at her with astonishment. "It shall, shall we say, bring him down to size!" For most of them it takes a bit of time to realise what she's talking about.

"What do you need for it?" Blackberry asks her, hoping to be helpful.

"I'll tell yer later!" Jade replies, she looks to the others. "Once it's ready we need to draw him well away from Efrafa so we can deal with him without too much interference! All we need is some 'bait'!" All the Watership rabbits turn to Hawkbit, standing in the back; he shakes his head and replies to the unspoken announcement.

"Nope, nope!" Blackavar thinks that a bit of persuasion is necessary and tries with the comment of.

"You warr a cowaardli liddle chiek, aren' tya!" With that everyone agrees that Hawkbit will be the lure for Hak Foo, much to his dismay.

Later Jade is preparing a spell in Fiver's burrow, Fiver looks on with amazement as he stands at the entrance to the burrow; Jade is in need of just one more ingredient for Blackberry to bring.

"I didn't know you could make magical stuff!" Fiver tells Jade, she turns to him and replies.

"If you mean powders and potions I've used them before, I need a bit of help in making those I haven't made before, but this is a spell I've created by accident!" Fiver is interested in this.

"Are you sure it will remove this Hak Foo person from the scene?" He asks her, Jade goes 'Tch' and replies.

"It's a very powerful spell; I just hope Hawkbit doesn't get in the crossfire!" Fiver is just puzzled by this.

Back in Efrafa Vervain, Woundwort and Hak Foo are discussing on how to deal with the Watership rabbits; Hak Foo is itching to go.

"They have evaded and outsmarted me before," He tells the other two, "Now is the time to make a comeback!" Vervain is puzzled by this; Woundwort just takes it as fighting talk and tells him.

"You are a very good fighter; you will do me proud, I'm sure of it!" Vervain isn't so sure.

"Sir," He tells Woundwort, "Are you certain we can rely on a human, and a very insane one too?" Hak Foo once again reacts aggressively with.

"Rhino Charges Land-Rover!" Throwing a punch at Vervain after sprinting at him.

"Nice attack, Hak Foo!" Woundwort comments, joyous at Vervain's suffering; he then notices something not normal. "Where is Campion?" He turns to Hak Foo again. "Do you think he's been attacked by elil?" Vervain makes a comment now.

"General, sir," He tells him, "If he can fight outsiders one to four his side, he must be able to fight a homba! I think he's defected to Hazel and his outsiders!" Woundwort decides to try Hak Foo-ing himself and names how he's going to cuff Vervain.

"Pig Crushes Ant!" He growls and heavily whacks Vervain between the ears.

"Please don't mention ants!" Hak Foo groans; they both stare at him. "It reminds me of a very unpleasant event that I was lucky to get out of!" They look at each other, then back at Hak Foo trying to figure out what this means. "Do not underestimate the power of chi!" He tells them, they are still puzzled.

"Hak Foo," Woundwort announces, "I want you find and destroy as many of the outsiders as you can!" Hak Foo needs some help here.

"How do I know which are your followers and which are your enemies?" He asks him, Woundwort is quick to reply.

"The outsiders tend to be cheeky; they are very un-muscular, except one who can be recognised by a growth of fur on his head, and they are terribly disorganised!" Hak Foo tries to figure this out, but decides to try and follow the descriptions given to him and sets off.

Back on the down Blackberry brings the final ingredients to Jade, who has just finished the first half of preparing the spell.

"Nice work, Blackberry!" Jade tells her as she puts the stuff down in a corner of the burrow. "I'll leave one of you to deal with him once the spell's done it's work! Don't want him making a comeback again!" It takes a while for Fiver and Blackberry to comprehend what she's saying as the colloquialisms tend to interfere with their understanding.

In the Honeycomb Hazel, Blackavar and Bigwig are trying to get Hawkbit into accepting the way the trap would be set; they aren't having much luck.

"If you're not going to lure this man into range, then allow me to go!" Hazel-rah announces, since Hawkbit is continually refusing.

"No, Hazel," Bigwig tells him, "That's no job for a chief! Allow me!" Hazel-rah looked at him before replying.

"You realise there are a few dangers in this plan!" Bigwig nods his head and replies.

"That's why it's no job for a chief!" Blackavar intervenes.

"Is'a all verwy well bein'g braeve abou tit," He tells them, "But your both two impottant t' sackrifies! Dat's wy Haukbi' hast t' be de wan; becofs then if anywing goes wong the loss won' be two bad!" Hazel thinks for a moment before replying.

"If a problem occurs and Hawkbit is involved in it, if it can be reversed then it should as long as this 'Hak Foo' is removed from the scene; Jade was very insistent on that!"

Blackberry enters her burrow, satisfied that all ingredients for the spell are gathered, when she finds Uncle sitting in what appears to be a sulk; she decides to talk to him.

"Is anything depressing you, Uncle?" She asks, he turns to her with a disappointing look on his face.

"Uncle is ashamed," He tells her, "Uncle has often denied Jade permission to use mag-ic! Now Jade is performing magic and Uncle's not complaining!" Blackberry sighs and turns away at Uncle's somewhat bizarre way of speaking.

Meanwhile, back at Efrafa, the meeting between Woundwort, Hak Foo and Vervain has finished; unfortunately the last attack on Vervain made by Hak Foo has left Vervain traumatised, he now has a clear stutter. He watches over his mark at silflay, distressed at the recent turn of events; he turns to see Groundsel coming up to him.

"You should get your mark underground," He tells Vervain, "It's my mark's turn to silflay!" Vervain sighs and replies.

"Yes, you're r-r-right," Then he speaks louder and clearer than before, "G-G-G-Groundsel, f-f-f-fetch your mark!" He then goes out and tells the whole mark. "C-Come in L-L-L-Left-Flank M-M-M-Mark, our time is u-u-u-up!" And everyone in his mark hesitates a bit before going back to the mark burrows whilst Groundsel gets his mark up into the open.

Fiver watches with curiosity as Jade mixes the various herbs and spices together to produce the intended spell, the result of which he is unsure of; when Jade's mixing slows down and stops.

"It's ready; fortunately there is no time limit for the use of the powder!" She tells him, Fiver acknowledges this and goes to tell the others.

Later on they are all gathered in the Honeycomb, Blackavar and Bigwig are restraining Hawkbit from chickening out, Jade is explaining the effects of the spell to Hazel, Fiver and Blackberry.

"So this spell will bring anything of human-size down to ant-size?" Hazel confirms, thinking how much danger this spell may cause.

"Anything touching the target," Jade adds, "Will also be shrunk on the same scale!" Then everyone turns to Hawkbit, who realises that there's no other option now.

"I'm going!" He cries panicky, "I'm going!" And hurries off to do what he was set to do before Bigwig gives him a cuff between the ears.

Later on, on the outskirts of Efrafa, Hak Foo is sitting on a rock keeping an eye out for trouble, he hopes he can take his revenge on the Chans; when he spots movement in the grass, he readies himself for aggression. Hawkbit pops out of the grass; he is surprised by Hak Foo's appearance and knows his sarcasm is just the thing to get Hak Foo going.

"Why is there squashed tomatoes in your fur?" He calls out; Hak Foo is angry and responds.

"Angry Crow takes Flight!" And he leaps off the rock towards Hawkbit, Hawkbit dashes to the side to avoid being pounced on, thereby Hak Foo lands 'bonk' in the grass; he looks around to see Hawkbit standing proudly with a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Can't catch meee!" Hawkbit calls out to Hak Foo, who immediately shoots after him.

Hungry Cheetah hunts Deer!" He shouts, Hawkbit dodges him with a mocking comment of.

"Cheetah loses Target!" And runs away with Hak Foo in hot pursuit.

Jade carries the cauldron containing the shrinking spell into the Honeycomb, where Fiver, Hazel, Blackberry and Hannah are waiting for Hawkbit to return with Hak Foo in hot pursuit. After a while Jade gets bored from waiting.

"How can it take this long to get Hak Foo across the distance required?" She rhetorically asks the world in general; Fiver looks at her and replies.

"Jade, speed isn't everything; if there's one thing we learnt about luring it is you have to use tactics to avoid coming to harm!" Then Bigwig enters the Honeycomb to find them ready and waiting.

"Just remember, Jade," He tells her, "Let 'Hak Foo' make the first move as it'll help you understand what he's up to; first rule of the owsla 'Always let your opponent make the first move'!" It is now that Jade realises why the others groaned last time Bigwig commented on rules of owsla and tries to stifle a groan herself.

"He's here!" Primrose cries as she rushes into the Honeycomb. "Hak Foo is here, right behind Hawkbit!" Jade readies herself and tell the others.

"Keep away from the middle; that is where the spell should take effect on Hak Foo!" They all move to the sides in response, and then an unfamiliar voice is heard outside the Honeycomb.

"Rabid Fox bites!" They immediately realise this is Hak Foo, but don't know why he said that line (unless you count Jade who already knows). Just then Hawkbit enters the Honeycomb with a panicky and worn out look on him; Hak Foo enters now and moves towards Hawkbit, Jade grabs a handful of shrinking powder and begins the spell.

"Xia xu, xia xu, xia xu, xia xu; Hak Foo!" The powder rushes towards Hak Foo and begins to envelop him, but just then Hak Foo pins Hawkbit to the ground.

"Quick," Jade calls to Hawkbit, "Get out of…" She stops when a green flash sends Hawkbit and Hak Foo out of site. "…There." She finishes.

Hawkbit reappears, he is confused as he is in the clear, but doesn't recognise the landscape; it gets worse for him when he sees Hak Foo, what to him is, 23ft (2") away from him.

"Now I can deal with you!" Hak Foo announces and moves to Hawkbit who performs the rabbit equivalent of backing-away, then he stops in shock at something behind Hak Foo and cries out.

"Paws!" He has noticed a pair of light brown-furred forepaws closing in on both him and Hak Foo.

"No one," Hak Foo tells Hawkbit, "Tells _me_ to pause!" Just then one of the forepaws knocks Hak Foo onto his front and face; Hawkbit ducks as the same forepaw sails over him and lands behind him sending shock waves through the ground that would measure five on the Richter scale.

"FIVER," Jade's voice booms through the land at Hawkbit's level, "BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU STEP!" Then Fiver's voice returns the boom in reply, to an extent that Hawkbit pulls his ears down over his jaw-bones.

"WHAT IS THE PROBLEM, JADE?" When the boom ends Hawkbit releases his ears and decides to get out of the way before Hak Foo gets to his feet; then he spots a familiar face and comes close to tharn.

"Oh no," He squeaks, "No, no, no, NO!" He is looking up at Fiver, who looms over him like the down would; and there's only one thing that Hawkbit can think of that would explain this.

"HAK FOO IS NO LONGER A WORRY!" Fiver thunders, the sight of a mountainous Fiver speaking is really terrifying to Hawkbit.

Jade tries to explain to Fiver a new problem. "But Hawkbit has suffered the same fate as Hak Foo pinned him at the moment the spell would take effect!" Fiver suddenly turns to her.

"What do you mean?" He asks her with concern; Jade recaps the situation to him.

"Not only is Hak Foo ant-size now, but Hawkbit has accidentally been shrunk, too!" Fiver then remembers exactly what she said when they were about to send Hawkbit to lure Hak Foo. "It'll be very hard to find them!" Jade adds to show why she's especially worried.

Hawkbit is terribly concerned about his predicament now; he tries to think about what to do when a shadow moves above him. He turns around to see another giant forepaw falling towards him, a sudden dash and Hawkbit avoids being crushed, but the impact causes a shockwave of 7.2 Richter scale, causing him to fall over (Fiver moved slightly whilst talking to Jade); looking up Hawkbit now finds another sense of terror and awe as he discovers that the paw belongs to Blackberry.

"IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO SHRINK THINGS," Blackberry thunders, "THEN THERE MUST BE A WAY TO RETURN HAWKBIT TO HIS NORMAL SIZE!" Hawkbit feels relieved at this and almost goes to lean against Blackberry's forepaw relaxingly, but his common sense got the better of him.

"The last time such a problem had to be solved," Jade tells Blackberry, "Hak Foo returned to normal size, too!" Blackberry thinks for a while and replies.

"There might be a more complex spell to restore Hawkbit's size without affecting Hak Foo!" Jade thinks about this whilst everyone there waits for a reply.

Hawkbit listens to the giants with interest, happy that they're looking into his restoration, when he hears a voice he suddenly remembers.

"I shall dispose of you before they're ready!" Hak Foo growls approaching Hawkbit from the direction of Fiver's right hind-paw; Hawkbit thinks about the situation whilst commenting.

"I forgot you were there!" Hak Foo is approaching him head-on, behind him is Blackberry's left forepaw and to the sides are other rabbits of normal proportions; he realises that his only escape from Hak Foo is to climb onto Blackberry's paw, he finds it embarrassing and rather dangerous, but there's no other clear option, so he navigates the space between her toes and clambers up to the top of her forepaw by using her fur as a combination of rope and footholds.

"It is possible that there maybe such a spell," Jade answers to Blackberry's inquiry, "Blackberry, you go talk to Uncle about the situation, you two are those most likely to make the spell work; Fiver, Hannah, you two had better look for Hawkbit and Hak Foo, if you find Hak Foo do wha'cha want with him, if you find Hawkbit you must do everything you can to keep him safe!" They all acknowledge this and Blackberry goes on her search for Uncle.

Hawkbit looks over the edge of Blackberry's forepaw with concern that Hak Foo will climb up and attack him; when he feels a shifting beneath his paws, he realises that Blackberry is beginning to move and quickly grabs onto her fur to prevent him falling off; it is a rough ride for him as the world twirls around him and every impact of Blackberry's paw makes him feel as though his stomach is going to leave through his mouth. Hak Foo isn't faring any better; with the paw Hawkbit's on moving over his head and crashing behind him, he attempts to chase after that paw when he finds his own life in danger as Blackberry's left hind-paw is on a collision course with him. He leaps forward and only narrowly avoids being squashed, but has a headache from the intensity of the impact; Blackberry moves forward again, but this time her hind-paw misses Hak Foo entirely.

"It just had to happen again!" Hak Foo groans, and runs towards Blackberry in the hopes of catching Hawkbit.

Blackberry first goes outside of the warren in her search for Uncle, but she only sees Captain Broom, Clover, Dandelion and Pipkin at silflay; she decides to ask them if any of them have seen Uncle. She first approaches Clover.

"Excuse me, Clover." She asks, she looks up. "Have you seen Uncle?" Clover thinks for a while to remember where she last saw him.

Hawkbit is glad that Blackberry has stopped; he hopes to climb up her foreleg and call into her ear to help the other Watership rabbits know of his whereabouts, just as he moves towards her ankle she stands up, tipping her forepaws 90° downwards, Hawkbit quickly grabs onto some of her fur.

"Typical," He groans, "She just has to stand up when she talks to someone!" But he could barely hear himself speak due to the volume of Blackberry's own voice; he then hears Clover reply.

"THE LAST TIME MY EYES HAVE SEEN THE MAN IN QUESTION," Clover thunders, "THE SAID MAN WAS GOING IN THE DIRECTION OF YOUR BURROW, BLACKBERRY, ABOUT FU-FRITH!" Just then Blackberry shifts her forepaws suddenly to think about this, causing Hawkbit to lose his grip and not only does he fall, but the movement of Blackberry's forepaws causes him to travel through the air what to him is 123ft (10.5") away from Blackberry before going into an all out plummet, he yells out in terror, but his voice is too feeble for anyone to hear.

Blackberry finally decides that this was while she was getting the ingredients for the shrinking spell and moves on to the other rabbits at silflay.

Hawkbit covers his eyes as the ground approaches him rapidly, all there is to break his fall are giant grass blades erupting from the ground, but even they couldn't help break his fall, in that instance Hawkbit is too big! Fortunately he lands against the side of a blade of grass that acts as a slide, slipping Hawkbit down to ground level gently enough so that the impact will just be a slight bump.

Hak Foo finds he can't keep up with the behemoth doe as she leaves the Honeycomb; what she covered in a few seconds he could only manage in half an hour, so he theorises that he'll have to hitch a ride himself. Fiver and Hannah are looking for him so they're out, Jade, Hazel and Bigwig are 750yds (5ft 4") away from him so they're out; which leaves Primrose, 16yds (7") away from him, he immediately heads for one her forepaws; he leaps onto her left forepaw just before she begins to move away, he really has to endure a lot from her impact intensity and speed.

Hawkbit wanders through the jungle of grass, wondering how far away the nearest rabbit is, he feels he needs to find another rabbit to ride on to (ironically) keep safe; just then he feels a 3.2 Richter scale tremor, which means a massive animal isn't too far away, he turns around and notices a foreleg of a rabbit rising from the grass 89ft (9.2") away from him. Cranking his neck he recognises the rabbit as Clover, nibbling at the grass; he then makes a comment to himself.

"Of course, to talk to her Blackberry had to be close!" He immediately starts to navigate his way through the grass towards her; there's always a sense of dread somewhere inside him relating to the size of his colleagues, but this seems to be the only way for him to have a chance of safety.

Primrose leaves the warren for silflay, unaware that Hak Foo is braced upon one of her forepaws; she finds a good spot about 8ft (3mi. to Hak Foo) from Clover and goes on her haunches to silflay. Hak Foo is thrown off Primrose's forepaw at the last impact when even he loses grip on her fur, he slams into the ground at an apparent distance of 28ft (2.5") away from the said forepaw; he can clearly hear Primrose's teeth chopping and grinding grass to his right at a distance of 15ft (1.6"), so he is also able to look right up along her left jawbones and cheek; he feels uncomfortable at getting such a good view of a rabbit at silflay (even if she is very good-looking). He immediately begins to seek out Hawkbit; but for all he knows Hawkbit could still be riding Blackberry.

By now Hawkbit is at a distance of 60ft (7.1") from Clover, in general her nearest paw is 56ft (7") to his right-front and the nearest part of Clover overall (the left edge of her chin) is 55.5ft (6.92") away from him; he immediately turns towards the great furry column that is her left foreleg. Hak Foo continues to wonder where Hawkbit might be; he has to look all around the top of the down, a lot like looking for a piece of straw in a haystack. He continues on his million to one chance search for Hawkbit.

Unfortunately million to one chances are classic storybook chances to overcome; so as Hawkbit decides to attempt to alert Clover to his whereabouts at a distance of 120ft (10.43") from her nearest ear; he calls her name as loud as he can, just as he is about to shout as loud as he can Hak Foo somehow reaches him and jumps at him; they both go flying through the air and land 4ft (0.3") apart. Hawkbit figures out he should fight back at Hak Foo to stand a chance, he continually attempts to cuff Hak Foo whilst continually dodging Hak Foo's moves.

"You're in for it now!" Hawkbit tells Hak Foo as he grabs a large lump of something from nearby; he is just about to throw when both of them notice what it is. "A crumb of grass?" Hawkbit comments at seeing the item; a shadow moves above them, Hak Foo notices areas of shorter grass around them. "Oh dear!" Hawkbit squeaks as both of them look straight up at Clover's vast face closing on them, and she begins to open her mouth!

Hak Foo and Hawkbit now totally succumb to their natural survival instincts and cry out in terror as they find themselves looking straight inside Clover's mouth; as she comes within 40ft (4.8") of them they both leap for safety, it takes to attempts when, at a distance of 23ft (2") from Clover's Olympic-sized muzzle they find safety by leaping towards her chin and hanging tightly. Both are now preoccupied with keeping safe than fighting each-other, just then Clover only takes three nibbles of the grass, the sound of her huge jaws grinding the grass into a mush terrifies both Hawkbit and Hak Foo when they realise how close they were to total demise; she lifts her head and sets off for her burrow.

Hawkbit looks down as he watches what seems to be the whole world rushing by as Clover hops across the down, it seems like he and Hak Foo had been lifted 118yds (3ft 3.79") off the ground; Clover stops by an entrance to the warren. She commences to lick her lips; both Hawkbit and Hak Foo her an earthy, watery rumble coming from up above, looking up they both see Clover's giant tongue running across her upper lip and coming down towards the lower lip from their left; what concerns them is that they are close enough to have contact with her tongue as it rushes past, and they both know what'll happen if they do! Once again they both cry out in terror, but neither of them can be heard even by a rabbit at such close proximity; then the terrifying tongue reaches them and pulls the both of them into her mouth!

Fortunately, when she swallows after licking her lips, Hawkbit and Hak Foo are saved by getting stuck between her incisors; Hawkbit in the lower gap and Hak Foo in the upper.

"Well," Hawkbit comments to Hak Foo sarcastically, "I'm sure we're going to be safe now!" Hak Foo growls at Hawkbit's sarcasm; very little light is seeping through Clover's mighty lips, but there's enough for Hawkbit to look upon himself down to his waist and at the nearest parts of Clover's lower incisors, a surprisingly pearly white; with Hak Foo it is the same, neither can see past their waists because that is where the gap in Clover's teeth is. They both feel powerful jolts as Clover hops into the warren; it is not long before Clover stops again and they hear Hazel's voice, it sounds normal to them because Clover's lips muffle the sound enough for it to seem like Hazel's voice when they would be both normal size.

"Hello Clover," Hazel greets her, "Is there anything I need to know?" Hawkbit has become dislodged in the jolting and is now laid right where the lip joins the gums, with his hind paws propped up against one of her incisor gums; he braces himself knowing that Clover's about to speak, seemingly louder than before due to the fact that he is within what she speaks with.

"**NONE I CAN THINK OF!**" She booms, this dislodges Hak Foo and both he and Hawkbit are blown out of her mouth and across the Honeycomb; Hawkbit cries out in fear, but his landing isn't fatal as he lands in a droplet of Clover's saliva, it is the size of a pond to him. "OH," Clover continues, "THERE IS ONE THING! BLACKBERRY WAS ASKING ABOUT THIS 'UNCLE' CHARACTER!" Hawkbit climbs out of the pond of saliva and sits by it's side.

"I KNOW SHE WAS!" Hazel-rah replies, Clover moves away. Hawkbit looks around and sees that only Jade and Hazel are in the Honeycomb, he knows he has to get the attention of one of them and the only option is to climb up to an ear. He realises that the nearest leg to him is Hazel's, that is a clear option; he heads for Hazel's mighty forepaw in a bid to get within shouting distance of his ear-drum.

Hak Foo has landed within walking distance of Jade's right foot; he too has landed in a droplet of saliva, he has no idea where Hawkbit is and is determined to deal with him.

Blackberry enters her burrow after deciding that it was the best place to look when no rabbits have given her a good lead, and she finds Uncle looking at what he calls a book.

"Uncle," She announces to him, "We need your help!" Uncle looks up at her with concern.

"Has Jade mIs-takenly shrunk any other with Haak Fu?" Blackberry nods her head.

"Is there anyway we can return Hawkbit to normal size without doing the same to Hak Foo?" Uncle hesitates in thought before replying.

"Normally Uncle would perform universal anti-shrinking spell that restore all who shrunk! To restore Hawk-bit only he must be found so a restoration spell can be cast on HaWkbit!" Blackberry acknowledges this and sets off to tell Hazel as Uncle gets his gear ready.

Hawkbit just manages to get onto Hazel's forepaw as he begins to head for his burrow for, for want of a better word, a kip; Hawkbit braces himself and keeps a tight hold on Hazel's fur as his behemoth chief thunders through the giant warren. Hawkbit manages better now because he has had experience when on Blackberry; Hazel finally comes to a stop and settles down, Hawkbit looks straight up to Hazel's head.

'Maybe it is easier to reach his ear now!' Hawkbit thinks and begins to hop along Hazel's foreleg towards the shoulder.

Hak Foo is continually scouting the Honeycomb to find Hawkbit and is having little success; he is about to give up when Jade moves closer to him in a couple of steps, each step causes Hak Foo to tumble.

"Of course!" He comments slyly, believing that Hawkbit's climbing up to Jade's ear he goes for hot pursuit, clambering up Jade's trainers using one of the laces as a rope and then leaping for the trouser leg. "Billy Goat Scales Mountain!" He announces, and then Jade begins to pace making everything shake for Hak Foo.

After a while Hawkbit has reached Hazel's shoulder and is about to hop up his neck to his right ear, just then a shadow falls across him.

"HAZEL?" Blackberry's voice booms, Hawkbit braces himself as Hazel-rah stirs and gets to his feet.

"WHAT'S THE PROBLEM, BLACKBERRY?" Hazel thunders, Hawkbit wants to cover his ears from the volume of their voices.

"UNCLE KNOWS A SPELL TO RETURN HAWKBIT ALONE TO NORMAL SIZE," Blackberry replies, "BUT WE NEED TO FIND HIM FIRST!" Hawkbit is ready to comment now.

"Oh lovely," He comments sarcastically, "After all this while of figuring out how to get me back you return to having to find me! Well done!" Hazel-rah has a plan.

"BLACKBERRY," He thunders, "YOU WILL HAVE TO ASK UNCLE THE INGREDIENTS AND GET THEM! RIGHT NOW I'LL GO AND SEE JADE ABOUT FINDING HAWKBIT, I HAVE AN IDEA!" Blackberry hops away and Hazel rises to his paws and goes towards the Honeycomb.

"Oh, you have a plan now, Hazel," Hawkbit comments sarcastically, "Well I hope you've thought it through."

Hak Foo has reached the same height as Jade's pocket and there's still no sign of Hawkbit, but he's sure he's close to her ear and continues to climb.

Hazel enters the Honeycomb to find Jade leaning against the wall with a dull expression on her face.

"Blackberry tells me that Uncle has a spell to return Hawkbit without this 'Hak Foo' man," He tells her, "But we need to know where Hawkbit is!" Jade looks up at him and replies.

"What d'yer think we've bin trying t'do?" Hazel briefly stops and looks at her blinking a couple of times before answering.

"I've just had an idea about how to find him!" Jade gets to her feet and listens with interest. "We need Fiver!" Hazel adds, just then Primrose enters the Honeycomb.

"Any luck in finding Hawkbit?" She asks them.

"Could you go and get Fiver for us?" Hazel asks her. "I've got an idea of how to find him!" Primrose hesitates to work out how this answers her question before going to fetch Fiver.

Hak Foo has just reached Jade's ear and he can see no sign of Hawkbit; he thinks for a while and hears the news from Hazel and comments without Jade hearing him.

"I've got to deal with him before they do!" He now thinks he has it sussed. "Hawkbit must in her other ear!" He comments and decides to make his way round to Jade's other ear using her hair as rope.

Hawkbit has found a perch on Hazel's collar-bone, he wonders exactly what it is about Fiver that would help them find him because Fiver's visions are unpredictable, but are often useful.

Jade now asks Hazel something.

"Isn't there anything I can do, Haze?" Hazel thinks for a while to work out that 'Haze' is short for 'Hazel' and to think of something for her to do.

"Yes," He replies, "You can help Blackberry get the stuff for the spell! She'll be in her burrow with Uncle!" Jade acknowledges this and goes towards Blackberry's burrow.

Later on Jade, Uncle and Blackberry arrive in the Honeycomb with the stuff to accomplish the chi spell and only a few moments later Primrose and Fiver enter the Honeycomb.

"What is it that I can do, Hazel?" Fiver asks, Hazel is quick to reply.

"Fiver, you must get into Hawkbit's mind and find out where he is!" Fiver is concerned about this.

"Hazel, you know I don't like interrupting the thoughts of others!" Hazel acknowledges this.

Hawkbit continues to hang from Hazel's collar as he listens to the giants, Hazel gives Fiver courage.

"FIVER, YOU MUST GET INTO HAWKBIT'S MIND OR WE MIGHT NEVER FIND HIM!" He booms, Hawkbit comments again.

"Of all the ideas, Fiver needs to read my mind to find out where I am, that is just fine! But it is important for me to be found!" He prepares to concentrate on thinking where he is.

Jade is puzzled by this and asks Fiver.

"Are you telepathic?" Fiver turns to her and replies.

"I'm not sure what that is, but…" He begins to sing ELO's 'Secret Messages'. "A moving stream of information that is calling on the wind, the secrets never end; and now they call, they sing, they play against for you from out of the blue; what can you do? The secret messages are calling to me endlessly, they call to me across the air; the messages across the atmosphere they whisper in your ear, they're calling everywhere! Where words cascade like rainbows tumbling from the sky then I'll be there, I'll be there; with messages they call to you their secrets all around without a sound, they're all around! The secret messages are calling to me endlessly, they call to me across the air; the messages across the atmosphere they whisper in your ear, they're calling everywhere! Those secret messages they spin to the Efrafan far away, so far away; a calling river of illusion running with confusion never gone, it goes on and on! The secret messages are calling to me endlessly, they call to me across the air; the messages across the atmosphere they whisper in your ear, they're calling everywhere!" Jade waits for a while before replying.

"I'll take that as a yes!" And Fiver goes into a trance as his thoughts flow through the air undetected.

Hawkbit now really concentrates; it was good that he didn't bother whilst Fiver was singing.

'I am on Hazel's neck!' He thinks. 'I am on Hazel's neck!' Just then he hears a familiar voice in his head.

'Hawkbit, brace yourself! We're coming!' Then the voice fades away and Hawkbit relieves himself of the concentration.

Fiver comes out of his trance and announces.

"I've found him!" They all turn to him to hear the news.

Hak Foo just reaches Jade's ear when Fiver voice booms around him in announcement; he listens with interest.

"HAZEL," Fiver tells Hazel, "HE IS ON THE BACK OF YOUR NECK!" Hak Foo cries out now.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Hazel is surprised to hear the news when Jade says.

"And I think I've found Hak Foo!" They all turn to Hazel though, thinking about Hawkbit more than Hak Foo for obvious reasons.

"I'll get him!" Blackberry announces and Hazel keeps still whilst Blackberry looks through his fur.

Hawkbit hears the news and realises he'll have to cooperate, looking up he sees Blackberry's great face peering through Hazel's fur; carefully balancing on his hind legs Hawkbit waves his forepaws over his head to catch Blackberry's attention.

Hak Foo knows he needs to get away and begins abseiling down Jade to the ground.

"Raccoon Raids House!" He announces, comparing his abseiling to a burglar breaking an entry from the roof of a house.

Blackberry carefully moves her forepaw to the tiny figure of Hawkbit balancing on Hazel's neck, he gingerly climbs onto her paw and she gently retrieves him.

"I can see Hak Foo!" Fiver announces, indicating with his forepaw to Jade's jumper, she lifts her arms as Fiver reaches in and causes Hak Foo to land on his forepaw and pulls his forepaw back.

Hawkbit hangs onto Blackberry's fur as she ferries him through the air to a spot where he can return to normal; she sets him down in the middle of the Honeycomb and h jumps off.

"STAY THERE!" Blackberry tells him, Hawkbit feels like she's forcing him but knows it's for his own good.

Uncle prepares the chi spell as Hawkbit is set down and Fiver ensures that Hak Foo doesn't try anything by keeping him perched on top of his muzzle right under his gaze.

"Uncle requires assistance!" Uncle tells Blackberry, she goes to his aid and they commence the spell with Blackberry dancing about waving her parsley whilst Uncle waves the aromas of the spell towards Hawkbit chanting.

"Humo brako fai di tzao! Humo brako fai di tzao!"

Blackberry's dancing causes 5.5 Richter scale earthquakes from Hawkbit's point of view, then a green mist swirls around him and he begins to grow.

A few moments later, Hawkbit returns to normal size and the spell is complete; Blackberry observes Hawkbit's condition.

"You don't look too good, Hawkbit." She comments, he turns to her.

"So would you be if you had to hang on to avoid being flung across the Honeycomb!" He comments, and he tells them everything that happened to him and they all give serious apologies for what trouble they gave him.

"I'll deal with Hak Foo!" Fiver announces and goes off with Hak Foo helpless on his muzzle.


End file.
